"What a boring day."
Sitting behind the reception desk of my gym, I stretched my arms and let out a long yawn while staring at the CCTV monitor. The empty training floor stared back at me.
December 25th.
Not a single person had stepped inside the gym all day.
I understood that holidays were meant to be spent with friends and family, but completely neglecting personal health? Pathetic. Still, my opinion didn't change the fact that there was nothing for me to do.
The gym was silent.
Vrr—Vrr.
My phone vibrated on the desk. I picked it up and glanced at the notification.
"Genesis Online launch at 14:00.I've created your credentials and sent them to your email.Hope to see you soon."
It was from Selena.
An old friend.And… a past crush.
She'd left for college four years ago, leaving me behind with occasional messages at best. But over the past few weeks, she had been relentlessly nagging me to join her in a new online game.
Honestly, I had zero interest in gaming. As a gym trainer and bodybuilding enthusiast, I preferred iron and sweat over virtual nonsense. Still, after her boyfriend ditched her—and after I casually promised we'd "meet online"—I somehow ended up agreeing.
Genesis Online was a newly announced VR game, the first of its kind. A long-running MMORPG had suddenly revealed its full VR edition. Magic, fantasy, combat—everything experienced directly through a neural gear headset.
She had even sent me one.
We were supposed to log in together today.
I hadn't expected my first proper "meeting" with her in years to happen inside a game. I'd planned to postpone it with some excuse.
Ironically, today was the game's launch day—and my gym was completely empty.
I sighed.
"So boring…"
I opened the desk drawer, grabbed my car keys, and stood up.
"Guess I'll head home and give it a try."
I locked up the gym and took one last look at the signboard outside.
Big Brother's Muscle Guide.
Yeah, the name sucked.But it was my father's gym—his legacy. I had no intention of changing it.
A faint smirk crossed my face as I got into the car and drove home.
I opened my wardrobe and took out the package Selena had sent me.
Inside was a neural gear headset, neatly packed along with several manuals and cables. The instruction guide was surprisingly user-friendly. It took me barely five minutes to connect everything—ports, battery, calibration.
The final instruction was simple.
"Lie on the bed. Attach the cable hangers to your fingers."
I could already guess why.
After settling down, I placed the headset over my head.
Darkness.
Complete pitch-black silence.
Then—a sharp prick in my fingers.
Before I could react, my consciousness felt like it was being pulled away, slipping into another plane entirely.
It was… insane.
I knew this had to be nothing more than neural stimulation, signals fired straight into my brain—but the experience felt far too real. When I tried to move my arms and legs, there was nothing. Just emptiness.
I was floating.
An endless void of clouds surrounded me when a translucent panel appeared in front of my eyes. In the corner, a countdown timer ticked down.
9 minutes remaining.
I waited for a while, but the emptiness grew boring fast.
When the timer showed 4 minutes, I gave in and entered the email ID and password Selena had sent me.
It worked.
[Authentication successful.][Login success.][Error loading.][Please try again.]
I frowned and tried again.
And again.
Only when the timer reached one minute remaining did the login finally go through.
[Authentication successful.][Login success.][Handshaking…][Teleporting to character selection screen.]
A smirk crossed my face.
"So I really got in early…"
I finally understood why the login had failed before—I wasn't supposed to enter yet. I'd only been killing time, never expecting it to actually work.
Looks like fate smiled on me.
I already imagined boasting about this later—especially to the one person I was supposed to meet today.
My body appeared in front of me.
The character customization screen allowed some changes, but nothing extreme. Fat remained fat. Short stayed short. The system didn't allow ridiculous alterations.
Luckily, my real body was already in good shape.
I decided to adjust my face slightly. Selena would almost certainly use her real one—I wanted to surprise her.
Once I confirmed the changes, the scene shifted.
I found myself sitting near a campfire.
A wooden chair rested beneath me. Curious, I reached out and touched a piece of charred wood.
I could feel the texture.
The heat.
"…Amazing."
The realism was overwhelming.
I looked around. The space was empty—except for a single door standing at the far end.
A blue screen appeared.
[Select a class from the list of characters. Touch any avatar you like.]
I blinked.
The room was empty.
"There's nothing here to touch."
Another line appeared.
[Once you are done, move through the door to enter the world.]
My gaze returned to the door.
'Maybe the answer is outside.'
I opened it and stepped forward—
—and suddenly lost all footing.
The ground vanished.
I dropped.
Wind rushed past me as I fell from the clouds, only to freeze midair, suspended in nothingness.
I tried to move. Nothing worked.
Then another panel appeared.
[Select the kingdom to spawn.]
A massive map unfolded before me, dotted with countless regions.
Selena's words echoed in my mind.
"Choose the Human Kingdom—Bravehart."
I selected it.
The world rushed upward.
I landed safely in a beginner town without taking any damage.
Apparently, fall damage was absorbed during spawning.
The environment took my breath away.
Crude wooden houses lined the streets. Horses trotted along the road. Farmland stretched beyond the town's edges, and a large training ground sat at the center.
It felt like stepping straight into a medieval past.
"Hey, John."
I turned.
A middle-aged man in leather armor and a crossbow behind, stood nearby—a city guard. His expression was serious.
"The new recruits will arrive today," he said. "You'd better prepare the training grounds."
I nodded instinctively, still processing what he'd said.
A hidden quest? Because I logged in early?
But something bothered me.
"…John?"
I didn't remember choosing that name.
Still, everything felt too real to dismiss outright.
I looked around. Only a handful of people were present—vendors setting up stalls. No players yet.
I approached a food seller.
"Excuse me—"
"Oh, John," the man greeted warmly. "What can I help you with?"
My heart skipped.
He knew me.
I hesitated, then chose my words carefully.
"Lately, I feel like I've messed something up," I said slowly. "I can't quite figure out what. How… do you see me?"
The vendor studied me with concern before smiling.
"Don't worry about unnecessary things," he said. "It's your first day as the trainer hired by the mayor. Just do what you always do."
Trainer?
Before I could ask more, a countdown appeared in front of me.
[3… 2… 1…]
The town exploded with activity.
Name bars appeared over people's heads.
Newcomers.
They began popping into existence all around the courtyard.
Yet there was a clear difference.
Some name bars were blue.
Others—like mine—were green.
A mechanical voice echoed through the world.
[Welcome to the world of Genesis Online.][Say 'Status' to view your character information.]
My throat went dry.
"…Status."
The panel appeared.
And when I saw the texts that appeared later, my blood ran cold.
[Error]
[Character role doesn't exist]
[Default NPC role assigned]
[Contact Gaia for assistance or report]
"What the f—""Why am I an NPC?"