"SHIT! SHIT! WHY?!"
I clung to the tree trunk, the rough bark digging into my palms as the full weight of my situation slowly sank in.
Rustle….
Sway—
The forest stretched out around me, alive with the sounds of rustling leaves and distant creatures.
Stars twinkled overhead—more stars than I had ever seen in my light-polluted city.
Just the first glance told me I was in some forest. The question was why… Why was I here?
Brrr…Brrr…
"!"
The sudden vibration nearly made me lose my grip on the tree.
'Oh! Yes! I still have my phone!'
In all the chaos, I had completely forgotten about it. Now it lay somewhere in the bushes below, buzzing insistently.
Carefully, I climbed back down. Each movement was measured, deliberate—one fall was enough for one night.
'Okay. Good.'
When my feet finally touched the ground, I followed the buzzing to where my phone had landed.
'Thought so…'
The screen was more cracked now, spider-web fractures across its surface, but that wasn't what caught my attention.
I checked the signal bars.
"Hallelujah! I'm saved!"
The words burst from me in a rush of relief. There, in the corner of my screen, was a single bar of signal.
One bar.
One chance.
I could make a call.
Tut… tut… tut.
My hands trembled as I dialed emergency services. Friends and family didn't even cross my mind—what could they do about… whatever this was?
No, I needed professionals.
People with resources…
Ring… ring…
Each ring lasted longer than it should have... Or atleast, that's how I felt. The silence between them filled with the strange sounds of this alien forest..
Ring… ring…
My free hand clutched the tree trunk beside me, seeking any form of stability as my world continued to spin.
Ring… ri—
"Please… someone answer…"
The line connected with a clicking sound. My heart leaped.
"Hello?! Hello?! Emergency services? I am in some kind of forest—"
⟨...krr…shaa…mel…?⟩
The voice that came through wasn't what I expected. Deep and distorted, it sounded like someone speaking through the water, or perhaps from the bottom of a very deep well.
"Sorry. I can't hear you well. The connection is really bad—"
⟨…graa…tho…kel…?⟩
The voice shifted, sounding confused now, trying different sounds as if testing something.
"If you just send help—"
⟨...mel…far…thur..?!⟩
We were both trying. Both failing to understand. The frustration in the strange voice seemed to mirror my own growing desperation.
Krrzzz-!
Suddenly, The Static shifted. A third voice cut through, crystal clear yet somehow more alien than the first:
⟨W…E…L…C…O…M…E⟩
Then…
Beep…Beep…Beep…
The line went dead.
"Fuck! What happened?!"
Panic stricken, I checked the signal. The bar was still there, mocking me with its presence.
Tut…tut…tut.
I readialed immediately, fingers practically stabbing at the screen.
Nothing. No ring. No connection.
Just silence.
"..."
The situation was getting bleaker by the second.
Just when I thought I had no hope—
Brr…Brr…
My phone began buzzing with new notifications. One after another, they came flooding in.
"What the hell is happening, really!"
BRRR….
The device grew hot in my hand. Not just warm—hot enough to be alarming.
Even the signal bar started pulsing with an eerie red light.
BRRR…. BRRR—
With each new notification, the vibrations grew more violent, the heat more intense.
"Ah, fuc—"
The phone became too hot to hold, slipping from my grasp. Luckily, it landed once again in the cushioned bushes.
'It shouldn't have broken.'
But when I carefully retrieved it, the screen had gone completely black.
"Wha—"
Before panic could fully set in, the screen flickered back to life. But instead of my familiar home screen, a circle appeared.
My phone was updating… by itself… here… in this impossible place.
10%...35%...
I could only watch, transfixed by the progress bar's slow crawl. But this strange moment of relative calm wasn't meant to last.
Gurr… Gurrr…
A low growl cut through the night air.
Close. Too close.
'What was that?!'
The sound made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, my legs beginning to shake not from exhaustion, but primal fear.
Flight and fight kicked in—and flight won instantly. I scrambled back up to the silver-barked tree that had broken my fall earlier.
My hands moved with newfound urgency, finding holds I had struggled with before. Amazing what little motivation could do.
From my perch above, I watched the progress bar continue its journey.
78%...95%...100%.
The screen flashed back to life, but something was wrong.
The battery indicator caught my eye first—where it had shown over 96% percent before, it now reads as 73%.
Whatever that update had been, it had drained nearly a fourth of my battery.
"...What is even happening?"
At this point. I wasn't sure of what to make out of this situation.
Everything was weird.
I just kept my eyes glued on the screen, that was the only familiar thing in this situation.
Tap. Tap.
I entered my password and unlocked my phone.
"..."
Gulp…
I stared at my screen. Most of my apps were gone, as if they had never existed. Only six remained:
But even these weren't right anymore.
Their icons had transformed into something ancient and alien.
Mysterious runes pulsed within their borders, seeming to twist and change whenever I wasn't looking directly at them.
Each one gave off an aura that made my fingers hesitate to touch them.
This update was definitely not from Google Play.
None of this was normal.
None of this should be possible.
Beep.
A new sound drew my attention—another thing I had completely forgotten about.
The fitness band on my wrist, a Christmas gift from my sister. I had worn it for so long it had become practically invisible to me.
Not anymore.
"This too has changed."
With trembling fingers, I swiped across its surface. What appeared made me question everything I knew about reality.
There, glowing softly in the darkness, was something I had only ever seen in games and webnovels.
A status screen.
[Wearer]
∟VIT : ⟪POOR +4⟫
∟STR : ⟪FAIR -2⟫
∟DEX : ⟪POOR +1⟫
∟INT : ⟪AVERAGE -3⟫
∟WIS : ⟪FAIR +1⟫
⟩⟩ Scale: [POOR < FAIR < AVERAGE < GOOD < EXCELLENT < OUTSTANDING]
I stared at my stats.
"Haha... What nonsense..."
Even to my eyes that looked pathetic.
All those hours of reading webnovels hadn't helped me.
GURR… GURRR…
The growling in the darkness drew closer.
Suddenly, those 'poor' stats felt a lot more threatening than amusing.