[Would you like to live a new life in another world?]
[Yes? No?]
[Time remaining 5:00]
asked the robotic voice resonating in his ears.
"Great, now I'm hearing things!" Xiao Yang said sarcastically, convinced it was all unreal.
He stood up and added, "I think it's best I head home—can't believe this day could possibly get any worse," as he patted the dust off his clothes.
"Betrayed by my girlfriend, fired from work, expelled from college, and abandoned by family—what a marvelous day, right?" Xiao Yang remarked while wandering toward his house, recalling the day's events.
Before he knew it, tears began streaming down his face and he murmured, "Sniff!... Sniff! Home? What home? It's all because of those..." as he sobbed, realizing he had nothing left.
Throwing the bottle from his grasp, he shouted, "Damn!" in a futile bid to vent his frustrations.
Crying as he watched the water flowing beneath the bridge and the moon's reflection, with no friends, family, job, or girlfriend, Xiao Yang even considered leaping from the bridge just to escape the pain inflicted by those damned people. But as he rested his hands on the railing, about to jump, he heard the robotic voice once more and, this time, a translucent message appeared before him.
[Would you like to live a new life in another world?]
[Yes? No?]
[Time remaining 1:03]
With nowhere else to go and no one to turn to, Xiao Yang felt utterly abandoned. Staring at the message on the screen in front of him, he wondered if, in his moment of despair, it might be an escape—a solution to all his problems, if only it were real.
Raising his right hand and pointing his index finger at the "yes" written on the floating window before him, minutes ticked by until Xiao Yang scoffed, "Obviously... What an idiot I am—of course, it was just a figment of my imagination!" as he aimlessly wandered the street, dismissing the possibility of its reality.
[Complete response analysis!]
[Initiating the process of soul transmigration between worlds!]
[4... 3...]
While drifting without purpose, Xiao Yang quipped, "I must be so drunk to be seeing this stuff!" convinced that his blurry vision was nothing but a drunken illusion.
[... 0]
[Soul extraction initiated!]
Continuing on his path, Xiao Yang glanced at the ground for a moment and said, "How can I believe this... Huh? What the heck is...?!"
Looking down, he caught sight of a man's body lying on the pavement. It was the body of a 23-year-old, with short black hair combed to the left—strangely neat for someone who had been drunk—wearing a brown shirt, dark jeans, and white sneakers.
"Wait! That... is me...?!" Xiao Yang exclaimed upon recognizing the body lying there.
After realizing that the body was indeed his, Xiao Yang stared at the system in horror and noticed it read:
[Soul transmigration initiated!]
"But what...! Woooo..."
As he spoke, Xiao Yang suddenly felt a powerful force yanking him backward. No matter how hard he tried to stand his ground, the pull was simply too intense. Dragged by this unseen force, all he could see was a blinding flash—and then, as quickly as it appeared, everything was swallowed by darkness.
"Hello! Is anyone there?!" Xiao Yang cried out, his voice echoing into the void as he looked around only to find endless blackness.
Minutes passed—or maybe it was seconds, or even hours—he couldn't tell. There was no sign of light or even the faintest sound to indicate any presence of life.
"Hello! Is anyone there?!" he shouted again, desperation welling up as his plea was met with silence.
Still, there was no reply or any sign of life anywhere. In his despair, the man suspended in the darkness knelt mid-air, curled up with his head tucked between his knees, and shut his eyes; a futile attempt to shield himself from the surrounding darkness—and, in a way, to hide his own inner shadows.
Time became an indistinguishable blur—seconds, minutes, hours, or even days—while Xiao Yang remained frozen in that state. Eventually, he began to wonder if this endless communion with darkness was simply the price for reaching another world. He lingered like that a little while longer until, exhausted from waiting and clueless about how long he had been trapped in this abyss, he slowly rose and opened his eyes, half-expecting the pain of a long-closed slumber.
But instead of pain, an immense joy overwhelmed him as a small beam of light emerged ahead.
"You're kidding me, this isn't possible!" exclaimed Ji Hoon, disappointed to discover that the feeble ray wasn't from the sun or anything natural, but emanated from a floating window right before him on which two messages were inscribed.
[Welcome to the other world!]
[To reach your destiny once and for all, you must choose the path of the system—a body and a name by which you wish to be recognized!]
"A body and a name..?" Xiao Yang thought after reading the messages on the floating window.
Studying what lay before him, he realized it bore a striking resemblance to game systems—the very ones that often appear in Korean and Chinese webnovels.
"What's happening here...? It's like I'm creating my character," Xiao Yang remarked, noting the uncanny similarity to a video game interface.
[Negative!]
[This choice was given to you because I figured you'd prefer to leave behind the name and face of your past life!]
After hearing the voice's reply, Xiao Yang recoiled in terror and asked,
"...Who... Who are you...?! Or rather, what are you?!"
He tried retreating from the window, dragging himself backwards relentlessly.
In his desperate crawl, Xiao Yang remembered glancing down and realizing that there was no ground at all—only complete darkness enveloped him, with the floating window suspended in its midst.
And since he couldn't run, he tried to fly. But no matter how far he went or how fast he moved, it felt as though that floating window was attached to him, following him wherever he went. Or perhaps, deep down, he knew that no matter how hard he tried, there was no way to move in that place.
"Damn, stop following me!" Xiao Yang shouted, frustrated by his inability to shake that presence off.
As Xiao Yang soared through the darkness, the robotic voice resonated in his ears:
[I am the ***** system!!!!]
[Error!]
[The system's path has not been chosen yet!]
After giving up on distancing himself from the system and realizing that it was impossible, Xiao Yang asked, uncertain about the type of path the system was suggesting:
[There are two paths that the system can take!]
[The Hero's Path!]
[In this path, the hero who chooses it must face numerous hardships at the start of his journey, but over time, he will become the most powerful of all. Through his actions, the hero must save anyone in danger—even if it costs him his life!]
[And the other is the Antihero's Path!]
[The antihero, too, will face certain challenges right from the beginning—challenges that will transform him into an antihero. And just like the hero, he will quickly become the most powerful. However, unlike the hero, the antihero isn't required to save everyone in danger—only those he chooses—thus enjoying complete freedom over his actions!]
```
[Choose your path!]
```
Shortly after hearing the system's response, Xiao Yang exclaimed, "It seems both are dreadful! ...But I choose the antihero—I'm not going to be controlled anymore... not if I have any other option," for he detests being told what to do.
Before, even as a child—and later, even as an adult—Xiao Yang couldn't do anything he truly desired; every action of his was strictly controlled by his parents or his girlfriend.
As a child, he wasn't allowed to play outside because he had to study to fulfill his parents' dream of him becoming a successful doctor. The first time he did something he genuinely wanted was when, instead of studying, he used his cellphone to read fantasy stories online—stories in which the protagonist had the freedom to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. But for Xiao Yang, reality was very different.
Soon after his parents discovered that, instead of studying, he sometimes used his cellphone to read those stories, they quickly confiscated the device and even beat him, claiming it was meant to teach him not to waste any more time on such useless things.
From that day on, whenever Xiao Yang used his cellphone or computer, his parents kept a close watch to ensure that he did nothing but study. And whenever he dared to do anything else, they beat him so badly that he would spend entire nights immobilized, wracked with excruciating pain all over his body.
That pain ultimately shaped Xiao Yang. Although he always obeyed everything his parents commanded, inside he could only think,
"I hate them! I hate them! I hate them!" every time he saw them.
Each time his parents beat him without reason, the hatred Xiao Yang felt for them only grew. But what could he do? He was just a child, and if he told anyone, who would believe him? It was far easier for others to assume he had done something wrong—and that the punishment, therefore, was justified. ments grew increasingly severe. There was one night when they kept him out until 1:30 AM in the middle of winter—dressed in nothing but a pair of pants and a T-shirt. That night, Xiao Yang felt so awful that he had to be rushed to the hospital, teetering on the edge of hypothermia.
When he woke up in that hospital bed, it was one of the first times anyone had treated him with genuine care and attention.
"Hello, my angel, are you alright?" asked a nurse, whose only striking feature that Xiao Yang managed to notice was the radiant, glowing smile she had as he awoke.
With his whole body aching and still trembling from the sudden movements, Xiao Yang asked,
"...Where am I? And who are you?"
"Don't move now; there's no need to get all worked up. Relax—you're in the hospital," the nurse replied in a calm, soothing voice, trying to reassure him.
"Hospital...?" Xiao Yang inquired, his vision blurred as he looked around.
"Yes, everything's fine. Please just stay calm, okay?" the nurse answered, offering a gentle smile as she softly stroked the boy's hair.
After seeing that beautiful smile a couple more times and hearing her sweet voice, Xiao Yang slipped back into unconsciousness, sinking into a deep sleep. Sometime later, he awoke to the sound of an infuriatingly familiar voice by his side:
"And doctor, what if something happens again?" added his father, equally pretending to worry.
Boiling with inner anger, Xiao Yang thought:
'Stop pretending, you old hypocrites—it's all your fault!' This was the one phrase he longed to shout at that very moment.
But the words that escaped his lips were:
"Mom! Dad? ...Where am I?" He knew that if he expressed his true feelings, once he was back home, not even God could save him—he'd surely be back in the hospital again.
Upon hearing his words, his mother approached him and said,
"Oh, my dear, don't worry. Everything will be alright. Before long, you'll be home," as she gently caressed his hair, feigning tenderness.
"That's my boy. Don't worry; soon enough, we'll be heading home," added Xiao Yang's father, coming over with false kindness. Yet, as soon as he drew near, he crouched down slightly and whispered in Xiao Yang's ear,
"You'd better obey, or you know exactly what'll happen, don't you?" making it clear that this was all just a cruel charade.
Xiao Yang felt a fury so immense that he nearly abandoned the façade of the obedient child. But managing to keep calm, that 15-year-old—already maturing and harboring a deep sense of hatred and pain—said,
"Alright, I really do want to go home," all while masking his true emotions behind the appearance of a loving son.
Witnessing the entire act, the doctor truly believed the performance and said,
"Don't worry, son, soon you'll be well enough to go home," trying to reassure Xiao Yang.
The doctor left the room, and Xiao Yang's father followed closely behind, hastening their departure from the hospital—and at the same time, attempting to give the impression that they were reluctant to let Xiao Yang go home out of concern.
"You really are a clever boy! All this effort wasn't in vain," said Xiao Yang's mother, shedding her worried-mother act as soon as the doctor left.
"Don't worry, I won't expose you," Xiao Yang muttered, his eyes burning with hatred as he glared at the woman before him.
The woman stepped closer and said,
"Watch your mouth, boy!"—as she squeezed his cheek.
Barely a moment later, she quickly released him and feigned affection, having overheard her husband saying,
"Seriously, doctor, are you sure he's completely alright?" before returning to the room with the doctor.