His head was pounding. A sharp, crawling pain throbbed like thousands of ants gnawing at his brain, well, only if there was even a brain left in his skull.
He could smell something strong…A heavy perfume flooded his nose, making him scrunch it in discomfort.
Groaning softly, he slowly opened his eyes.
Distant noises floated into his ears, they were muffled and warped, as if he were underwater. There was a faint ringing too, like a bell echoing far away. His vision was blurred, colors and shapes blending together. He blinked sometimes to clear his vision.
And the first thing he saw was something big, round, and also soft-looking. It was directly above him.
He squinted his eyes harder. Were those… boobs?
No way. Maybe balloons? Red balloons?
"Kyaaaaa!! Where are you looking?!"
A high-pitched scream blasted through his ears, and then came the slap.
SMACK!
Yoo Hyun's face whipped to the side.
"What the hell?!" he muttered, stunned. But, ahem… at least, the pain woke him up. The fog in his head finally started to clear.
He jolted upright, sitting up on the floor where he had apparently been leaning just seconds ago. One hand pressed against his aching temple. The throbbing hadn't gone away.
And then he saw her, a girl in a deep red and gold uniform, standing right in front of him with an expression full of fire. Her arms were crossed, and she was muttering curses under her breath.
Yoo Hyun blinked in disbelief. It seems like they really weren't balloons. And now he had a handprint on his cheek for the misunderstanding.
Seriously? he thought bitterly. He didn't even touch her. She was the one who ended up leaning over him. Why was he the one getting punished? And why did she do that in the first place anyway? To check his heartbeat or something?
And the most fatal question, who the heck was she?
Looking around now, he realized something else.
He was still on a train, he could feel the subtle bumps beneath him from the ride, but it wasn't the same one from earlier.
This car was… different. It was fancier. The floor had a polished wooden design, and the walls were lined with golden frames. There were six private cabins built into the space, and a narrow corridor ran through the middle.
Even the people here looked different.
Students filled the car, but they weren't wearing normal school uniforms. Their outfits looked straight out of a Western fantasy novel, tailored coats, high boots, and leather belts with strange emblems. Not to mention, even the necktie seems to be sparkling a bit.
What the hell?
Usually in this kind of situations people will say that cliche line 'Where am I?' Yoo Hyun really didn't want to be cliche but,
"Where the fuck am I?"
He sat there, frozen, trying to make sense of it all.
He racked his brain, going back to what happened before. Then he remembered, the train and the professor Lu-, ah nah the monster. That final moment when he said, "I am an idiot."
Did he die? Was this some weird afterlife or a dream?
Nope… That slap was way too real.
His cheek still stung like hell. Damn that girl.
So then… where the hell was he? And then,
A screen flickered into existence right in front of him.
[Initializing System Interface: PROJECT EX.T.R.A...]
[Analyzing Neural Signature...]
▶ Subject: Kim Yoo Hyun
▶ Alignment: Irrelevant
▶ Fate Score: -8
[Loading user environment…]
[Booting identity shell: Sylas Ravion]
[Welcome, You have been summoned.]
[Main Quest Unlocked: Survive.]
[> Tips: You may want to start by not dying in the next 24 hours.]
Yoo Hyun gasped and instinctively leaned back, blinking in disbelief. But no matter how he shifted his head or turned away, the translucent screen followed his vision like a ghost.
And what the heck did it mean by try not to die in the next 24 hours?
"This... is this a system?" he muttered, squinting at the glowing text. Maybe he was…Transmigrated? Well, isn't that always happening in those novels?
Then he remembered, oh crap, People.
He glanced around awkwardly, noticing the whispers around him. The other students who had surrounded him were now slowly dispersing, giving him a wide berth like he was contagious. That same girl in red and gold, the one who slapped him earlier, shot him a final laser-beam glare before walking off with a dramatic huff.
Their uniforms all had the same sleek, high-fantasy design, but in different colors, some wore deep red and gold, some other wore cool blue and silver, some regal green and bronze. Curious, Yoo Hyun looked down at himself.
It definitely wasn't what he wore that morning.
He was now dressed in a dark male uniform, black trimmed with deep purple. Black pants and a purple mixed jacket with a white inner shirt, High boots hugged his legs, and a silver crest was stitched into the sleeve, with a purple tie with that same crest. He didn't even feel like himself anymore.
And he realized that this was no ordinary train.
Outside the window, a vast jungle spread beneath cloudy skies. Mountains loomed in the distance, waterfalls poured from cliffsides, and lush trees blurred past as the train sped through what looked like a fantasy version of the Amazon.
"…Am I really transmigrated?" he whispered to himself.
The system screen glitched for a moment, the text shifting and reshaping in front of him.
"Sylas Ravion, huh?" he muttered as it loaded the next set of information.
[Opening Status Bar…]
[Status: Sylas Ravion]
Talent: ??? (None. Stats will unlock once your Talent is granted.)
Race: Human
Title: The Idiot
Level: Beginner
Fate Score: -8
Luck: …are you serious?
Traits:
– [Master of Unintentional Offense] — You have a 50% chance to insult anyone you talk to, even if you're complimenting them.
– [Protagonist Buffer Zone] — Heroes near fifty meter radius level up faster, gain plot armor, and avoid fatal hits. You absorb all their near-death flags if the attack failed to be avoided.
Yoo Hyun stared. And then blinked. Then slowly raised his hand and rubbed his eyes.
Nothing changed.
"…What the hell is wrong with this system?" he muttered, eyes twitching.
The Idiot? Seriously? Why did all his traits sound like they belonged to a cursed clown side character? Oh, wait. It was probably because of the title. "The Idiot."
And what's with his luck? Was it serious right now? And what kind of system didn't grant even basic stats? And of course, he had no idea what the fate score meant. Well, maybe it's because he was an idiot.
"Fuck..." he groaned.
Sure, transmigrating into a fantasy world sounded cool, but not like this. Definitely not like this.
Then something else hit him like a freight train of reality. Just like that, he figured out just where he was.
The uniforms, the setting, the train…
He recognized them.
He was on his way to Velatrix Royal Academy, the main stage of World of Mages, the game he'd poured hundreds of hours into. The elite school where noble heirs, chosen warriors, and rare talent gathered. And of course, this train ride was the first stage of the game as he remembered.
And yet... Sylas Ravion?
He frowned.
He didn't remember a character named that. Not a main character or a side character. Not even a background NPC.
He knew that world like the back of his hand. But Sylas wasn't in it.
"…Don't tell me I'm just… an extra?"