“Hmmm… how is this even possible…?” the teenager muttered under his breath while staring at the mirror.
He stood there for several long seconds without moving.
One hand slowly pushed through his hair, separating the strands near the roots as if he expected the color to disappear on closer inspection.
It didn’t.
Black hair mixed naturally with silver strands, not dyed or artificial-looking, but real.
The silver started right from the roots themselves.
“…This is actually real.”
His voice sounded quieter now.
He pulled at another section just to make sure his eyes were not playing tricks on him.
The result stayed the same.
Then his attention shifted toward his face.
The confusion only deepened.
“And why do I look like this…?”
The person staring back at him was younger than he remembered being.
Not by much, but enough to feel wrong.
His features looked sharper too.
Cleaner.
More refined in a way that made the reflection feel unfamiliar despite obviously being his own.
This was not the face he remembered waking up with his entire life.
His normal appearance had been forgettable.
Brown hair.
Average face.
Nothing unusual.
Not this strange black-and-silver hair.
Not this version of himself.
He frowned slightly before pinching the bridge of his nose.
“This better not be some dream…”
A moment later he slapped himself across the cheek.
The sting came instantly.
“…Right. Definitely awake.”
He let out a slow breath and placed both hands against the sink, staring silently at the mirror again while his thoughts became increasingly difficult to organize.
None of this made sense.
People did not randomly wake up looking different.
There had to be an explanation for this.
Even a bad explanation would be better than none.
For a brief moment, several ridiculous possibilities crossed his mind before he pushed them away immediately.
No.
He needed to calm down first.
Panicking before understanding the situation would only make things worse.
Still, the uneasy feeling in his chest refused to disappear as the unfamiliar reflection continued staring back at him.
Just as Oliver finally started forcing himself to calm down, something bright flashed in front of his face.
A transparent blue panel suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
“What the—”
Oliver instinctively stepped backward in shock, missed his footing entirely, and crashed onto the bathroom floor with a painful thud.
“Ow… damn it…”
He rubbed the back of his head before slowly looking up again.
The glowing panel was still floating there calmly as if nothing had happened.
For a few seconds, Oliver simply stared at it in silence.
Then he let out a long tired sigh.
“…Yeah. Okay. I think I understand what’s happening now.”
At first he had considered dozens of possibilities.
Brainwashing.
Experiments.
Memory loss.
Some absurd virtual reality situation.
But this?
A floating system panel appearing in front of his face after waking up in another body?
There was really only one explanation left.
Transmigration.
Somehow, against all logic and common sense, he had become one of those unlucky people from web novels who woke up inside another world.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Oliver leaned against the bathtub and looked at the panel more carefully.
It was surprisingly simple.
[ Name : Oliver Lopez ]
[ Function : Modify Plot to Gain Powers ]
“That’s it?”
Oliver blinked.
“No welcome message? No explanation? No tutorial? Who designed this thing?”
The panel looked less like a divine system and more like someone built it halfway before giving up.
He stared at the words again, hoping more information would appear automatically.
Nothing happened.
“…Wow. Very useful.”
Then he noticed a small arrow beside the function tab.
Oliver hesitated for a second before tapping it.
The panel expanded instantly.
[ Modify Plot ]
[ Gain Plot Points by interfering with important events. ]
[ Use Plot Points to modify reality. ]
[ Current Chances : 1 Rare ]
[ Rank Levels : Common — Uncommon — Rare — Unique — Legendary ]
Oliver frowned harder the more he read.
“Modify reality…?”
That sounded less like a normal system ability and more like something completely broken.
But another part bothered him more.
“Plot points? Important events?”
He slowly lowered his hand.
“…Don’t tell me this is actually a story world.”
His expression became complicated.
If this really was some novel or television universe, then that meant the people around him already had fixed roles.
Fixed futures.
Fixed disasters waiting to happen.
And depending on what world this was…
That could become a serious problem very quickly.
Then the doorbell rang.
The sudden sound made Oliver jump slightly before he pushed himself off the bathroom floor.
A few moments later, he opened the front door.
Outside stood a delivery worker holding a medium-sized package.
“Oliver Lopez?” the man asked casually.
“…Yeah.”
Oliver accepted the package while still distracted by everything happening around him.
The delivery worker left immediately afterward without another word.
Closing the door, Oliver looked down at the box in confusion.
“I don’t remember ordering anything…”
Then again, this was not even his original body or house anymore, so maybe that should not have surprised him.
He turned the package over and froze.
Printed on the front was a dark purple crest with a large stylized “N” surrounded by ornate designs.
Nevermore Academy.
The moment he saw the symbol, a very specific memory surfaced inside his mind.
A pale girl with emotionless eyes.
Black braids.
A stare that looked permanently disappointed in humanity.
And everywhere she went…
Problems followed.
A very bad feeling suddenly formed in Oliver’s stomach.
[The main character has received the admission letter from Nevermore Academy. A sense of dread rises within him as he remembers a certain pale-faced teenage girl and the endless trouble that seems to follow wherever she goes.]
Oliver stared at the message with a blank expression while the admission letter remained in his hand.
“Oh fuck… this is actually the world of Wednesday.”