I woke up with something hard pressing up against my ass.
"..."
On second thought, it was pressing up against my whole body.
"Fuck my life..."
I mean, it didn't take a genius to figure out I was, for some reason, transmigrated/reincarnated.
Honestly, I couldn't really remember that much about my past life, yet I still had all the general knowledge I had obtained by just living and knew for a fact that, if there was a place like this on Earth, I would've heard about it.
...unless Atlantis was a real thing that is.
Welp, it didn't matter, cause, either way, I was fucked.
Just by the fact that I was alone in the middle of a giant temple, I knew for a fact that I had been sacrificed to the gods or some shit.
Tap, tap, tap...
Never mind...
Seeing as I wasn't the only person here, it seemed like my chances of getting my ass handed to a monster or something had significantly decreased.
"After so long... another one has finally appeared."
Although my senses told me that the footsteps and the voice were coming from in front of me, something in me begged to differ and I turned around instead...
...just in time to see a rabbit like thing coming out of the shadows.
I immediately recognized who the rabbit was, which in turn seemed to unlock a part of my brain as I immediately blacked out.
~~~
"The first one in millennia, yet you've kept me waiting for more than a [?][?][?] now."
"Kekeke... I've been out for [?][?][?]?"
Although my general intentions were conveyed, my brain had adjusted my words to fit the personality of the body that I now inhabited.
And, knowing that I would only be told to climb the tower if I asked this fucking bunny in front of me why I had been transmigrated, I reigned back my curiosity and decided to just go with the flow.
"What might your name be? You may refer to me as Headon."
"kekeke... not telling!"
'Fuck my life...'
I would definitely get tired of this way of speech in the very near future.
"Just kidding! The name's Joo Shiyoon."
"Joo Shiyoon... and you're not a regular from the tower?"
"I have no clue what you're talking about."
Korean names were pretty common in the tower if I remembered correctly, so with me inhabiting the body of another fictional Korean character, it was only natural that such a mistake could've occurred.
Yet, Headon didn't inquire any further and moved on with the conversation.
"Well, since you are here, you must have had a strong enough desire to open the doors on your own."
'Dude... I found myself lying here. How the fuck should I know what desires this original body had?'
Sure, I knew about "Joo Shiyoon" from playing Counterside back in my original world, but it wasn't like I knew everything about his psyche.
Furthermore, he was literally the most mysterious character in the game despite being one of the three protagonists of it. Literally every line of dialogue "Joo Shiyoon" had spouted during the gameplay was chock full of hidden intentions hidden behind hidden intentions.
It was only due to the fact that I was a player of the game that I was able to witness the few times that Shiyoon revealed his true self when he knew no one was watching.
But never mind that, I was now him.
And, like it or not, I was now forced to act like him due to certain reinforced pathways in his brain from his years of living as such a person.
"Who knows what I desire most?"
My reply didn't seem to satisfy Headon, so I'd give him something else to be interested in instead before he decided to smite me for wasting his time as an average Joe irregular.
"Tho, if you wouldn't mind, how 'bout we start that test now? I'm itching to climb the tower kekeke..."
Instantly, a surprised expression graced Headon's face, leaving as quickly as it had come.
"To think knowledge of the tower would be available on the outside..." He mumbled, yet I had heard every word he said.
That reminded me. I was extremely grateful that I had been actually transmigrated into "Joo Shiyoon's" body instead of having his powers implanted in my body, as I would've gone both blind and death due to the information overload from his brokenly enhanced senses.
"You might be the most interesting regular I have encountered..."
"Test."
Cutting him off, "Joo Shiyoon," or well, "I" decided to push forward.
There was no point in staying on this floor anymore, wait no, actually...
Waving his staff, Headon conjured up the scene I had seen countless times before, (I had rewatched it too many times seeing as only the first episode of the anime had been free to watch on Youtube).
"Would you like to indulge yourself in a bet with me... Mr. Headon?"
"I am listening."
"If I could, I don't know, slay the beast in less than 10 seconds... would you be able to give me something?"
"As long as it doesn't interfere with the rules set upon me by the tower, I see no reason why I shouldn't take you up on the offer..."
"...yet what would you be able to give me if you lost the bet? A bet must go both ways to be called a bet, no?"
Silence prevailed for a second...
"I'd give you my life."
"Hahahahahahahah... You really are the most interesting irregular I have ever met!"
His laughs echoed throughout the stone chamber as they slowly died in the distance.
"Although the trade-off isn't as even as I'd like, I'll humor you this one time, Irregular."
And that was all I needed to hear before instantly propelling myself into the green aquarium.
My movements slowed down as I entered the shinsu, yet almost immediately, I was back to my normal physical prowess.
Noticing that it would soon be able to eat after such a long time, the steel eel immediately raced towards me.
Yet, right before it smashed into my body and completely obliterated me, time seemed to stop.
"Poison Fang should be enough to deal with this beast."
Unsheathing my dagger faster than the eye could see; it met the beast head on.
[Poison Fang: Perfect Counter](1)
A shockwave resounded throughout the aquarium, and a second later, the steel eel was reduced to bits of flesh that slowly fell to the bottom of the aquarium.
---
(1. I'm using different names from the original source material although the meaning should be the same.)
A/N: I hope you liked this first chap! Honestly I do feel as if my written dialogue can be extremely unnatural at some points, but, on the other hand, I have no idea how to fix it, so I'll just be banking on the fact that I'll learn more about my characters as I become a better writer.
As for Joo Shiyoon, his abilities will be a combination of his lore abilities and his gamplay abilities (the ones from before he was nerfed, twice).
Uh, if I get anything wrong about either source material (Counterside and Tower of God) do tell me and I'll fix it if I deem it necessary. I'm not the greatest expert on either source material, especially with the part of the Tower of God timeline that I want to insert Shiyoon into, so don't expect everything to be perfect (I also need to take some creative abilities).
That's all! Thank y'all for starting this journey with me!