*The Beginning
One day, in a modest apartment, two brothers, Rize and Furan, shared their lives. Their parents had divorced, and they chose to live together, just the two of them.
Rize, the older brother, was the backbone of their small household, covering all daily expenses. Besides working as an office employee, he spent his spare time at home writing light novels as a side income.
That afternoon, as usual, they were each engrossed in their activities—Rize was typing away at his computer, while Furan was playing games on his phone.
"Brother… what are you doing?"
Furan asked, his voice curious as he watched his brother, who seemed intensely focused on the screen.
"Writing a novel" Rize replied casually.
Furan walked over and stood behind Rize's chair, closely observing the story his brother was creating.
"Brother… these words don't fit quite right" Furan started to say.
"It should be…"
Before Furan could finish his sentence, Rize interrupted
"It's meant to be like that, just like in typical novels—wuxia, xianxia, and xuanhuan style."
Furan, who was used to reading manhua, manhwa, and manga, felt something off after glancing at the phrases in his brother's story.
"Why don't you just change it? The words seem off"
Furan said firmly, his tone almost insistent.
Rize, surprised by his brother's reaction, chuckled softly.
"I've read hundreds, even thousands, of Chinese-style novels, little brother. Look at this"
Rize said, pulling up a website filled with countless Chinese-style stories.
Not stopping there, Rize showed Furan the analytics and reader feedback for the novel he was working on.
"It's how it is, see? The number of readers and the response is decent…"
"Did you know, little brother, that a novel writer is like a god who can change the story as they wish?"
Rize added with a playful tone.
But Furan's stubbornness was evident from his frown and discontented expression. Seeing this, an idea formed in Rize's mind.
"How about this, little brother? Why don't you try writing a novel yourself? I'll post it on my account so you can see firsthand that writing a story isn't as easy as you think!"
Furan thought for a moment. After a pause, he nodded, considering his brother's words.
"That's true… I might as well write a story I like"
he said softly, a smile forming on his face.
"Brother, I'll give it a shot. But what kind of story should I write?"
Furan asked, slightly puzzled, as he'd never written before.
"Write whatever you like. Try to make it as interesting as possible. Once you're done, I'll help edit it" Rize said.
"Okay, brother…"
Furan agreed, nodding, and started brainstorming ideas and plotlines for his story. After a while, he returned to his game, unaware of how quickly time passed.
"Whoa… it's already late. It's eleven o'clock, since I'm not sleepy yet, I might as well start writing" Furan thought to himself.
The clock struck 11:30 p.m.
Furan gathered his supplies—pencil, eraser, and paper—and sat at his study desk.
"What kind of story should I write? Reading too many comics is making it hard for me to decide on a plot"
he muttered quietly, thinking.
In the tranquility of the night, Furan glanced out the window at the dark sky, void of stars, obscured by the city's pollution. He opened a few comics to find inspiration.
"There are so many stories now with overpowered main characters and swordsmen… Maybe I'll create a protagonist who doesn't use a sword but has unique skills and powerful talents?"
he said, half-questioning himself.
The clock struck 11:55 p.m.
After moments of silent contemplation in the quiet night, a wild thought crossed Furan's mind: what if a writer entered their unfinished story?
"Can an author change the story from within?"
he wondered aloud, feeling an unfamiliar drowsiness taking over as he rested his head on the desk and drifted off to sleep.
The clock struck 11:59 p.m.
Suddenly, Furan jolted awake.
"Did I fall asleep? Ugh…"
A sharp pain surged through his head, and everything in his vision turned grayscale and wavered. Cracks, pixel-like and digital, began appearing around him. Before he could react, as the confusion of sleep still clung to him, objects grew larger, and his body seemed to shrink and fade.
"Brother… brother… brother, help me!"
Furan screamed as loud as he could, fear gripping him.
"What's happening? Why does my head hurt so much? Why isn't my brother coming? Why is my body see-through? Why…?"
Rize, deep in sleep, heard nothing. The silence was only broken by the soft ticking of the clock.
Tick… tick… tick… tick…
In the stillness, Furan's panic was indescribable. His screams were silent, the pain unbearable. He couldn't move, and his body continued to disappear.
Panic, rage, sorrow, fear, shock, confusion, pain, disappointment—all these emotions collided at once. His eyes turned white, and blood began trickling from them, as well as from his nose and ears. He collapsed, unconscious. All of it happened in just one minute.
The clock struck midnight, 12:00 a.m.
Furan's existence began to fade, piece by piece—photos on social media, framed pictures, certificates, names in books, even memories of him in the minds of those who knew him.
"Yawn… What time is it?"
Rize yawned, heading to the bathroom and glancing at the wall clock.
"It's already midnight… Why are there writing supplies on this desk?"
Rize asked, noticing the items laid out.
"They're not mine… but there's no name on them either. Oh well, I really need to go to the bathroom."
After finishing up, he felt an inexplicable sense of change but couldn't pinpoint what it was.
"Whose stuff is this? Yawn… I'll think about it tomorrow. I need to sleep since I have work in the morning,"
Rize mumbled, still drowsy, heading back to his room and slipping into bed.
Life on Earth continued as normal, unchanged, except for the absence of Furan.
Furan slowly opened his eyes and looked around.
"Where am I... why am I in a forest?"
He asked himself, confused. Furan wanted to move, but his body felt frozen and incredibly hard to move. Still, he refused to give up and forced himself to shift from where he lay.
"Crack" The sound of bones echoed through his body.
"Why does my whole body hurt... Argh..."
Furan realized he couldn't move anymore, so he decided to stay put and hope for help.
He waited and kept waiting.
"It seems like it's already late afternoon. What if wild animals come out tonight?"
Furan started to panic. Lying on the ground, he struggled even harder to move, driven by the fear gnawing at him.
"Argh... I have to move... No matter how much this pain hurts... I need to find a safe place...!"
With immense effort, he managed to get close to a large tree. Panting heavily, sweat dripping, and his heart pounding wildly, he leaned against the tree, ignoring the pain. Exhausted, he soon drifted into sleep.
Midnight, exactly at 00:00