---
He tied his long hair back into a ponytail, adjusted his glasses, and straightened his uniform.
Now, he was heading to open the door and leave his apartment!
Knock.
He opened the door, and his eyes widened in surprise. The first thing he encountered upon opening the door was a long white corridor with dozens of doors lined up horizontally next to each other. Each door had different numbers engraved in black.
When he turned around to look at the door of his apartment, he found it resembled the others, except it bore a different number: 2000.
As he gazed at the doors, he felt puzzled.
'How can the doors be this close to each other while the apartments are large? Shouldn't the doors be spaced farther apart, considering each one leads to a different apartment of varying size?'
The doors were literally attached to each other—it was insane!
However, he decided to ignore it and keep walking to avoid being late for his first day at the academy.
He glanced at his watch.
It was 6:15.
He didn't know when the classes began at the academy, but he decided to leave early anyway.
Half an hour passed as he wandered aimlessly through the corridors. The building was truly massive; no matter how many stairs he climbed or descended, the corridors seemed endless! It felt like he was trapped in an unending loop or a maze. No matter which path he took, he couldn't find an exit!
He felt frustrated and deeply annoyed. Even worse, the entire building was eerily quiet. As much as he loved silence, this was too much. It felt like the place was abandoned... He desperately wanted to find someone to guide him out of this nightmare.
Ten more minutes passed as he aimlessly roamed, searching for salvation.
And finally... finally, he found his savior!
There he was—a middle-aged man holding a strange device that looked like a broom but wasn't quite a broom.
"I don't know why, but this man suddenly seems to glow brightly like an angel," he muttered with sparkling eyes full of hope, like someone finding an oasis in a vast desert after days without water.
---
"Hey, sir! Sir!"
The man was startled to see a boy yelling "Hey, sir! Sir!" while running toward him with teary eyes. The boy seemed to be just a student, judging by the academy's uniform he was wearing.
'What is a student doing here at this time? Isn't he supposed to be in class since they started an hour ago?' the man wondered but didn't bother asking the boy, who was now standing in front of him. Instead, he gave him a questioning look.
The boy seemed to understand the man's expression, so he quickly spoke.
"Umm—excuse me, sir. Do you know how to get out of here?"
The man tilted his head slightly at the boy's odd words.
"Out? Why would you want to leave?"
"Oh, I just want to go to Elias Academy. Umm, do you know where it is?"
When the boy finished speaking, the man gave him a strange look, as if he was staring at the dumbest person he'd ever met. At first, the man thought the boy was joking, but when he noticed the hopeful look in his eyes, he realized he was serious.
The man scratched his head.
"Kid, are you joking? You're already in Elias Academy!"
The boy was startled by the man's words.
'So, I'm already in the academy?! That means the place I was living in was the student dormitory?'
He smiled slightly, imagining what would've happened if he'd ignored today's classes and disregarded the warning he'd received. He would've been homeless in a strange world where he didn't know anyone!
He glanced at his watch again and then asked the man, "So, do you know where section E/13 is?"
The man rolled his eyes and scratched his head again.
"It's here, you idiot. Can't you see?"
The man pointed to the door behind the boy.
Raylen walked to the door the man pointed at, not forgetting to thank him before heading toward it. He didn't seem bothered by the man's rude behavior.
Why would he be? This was the man who had saved him from wandering aimlessly around. Besides, why should he be upset with someone he'd never meet again, except perhaps by chance?
"Section E/13," he muttered softly.
Now, he was standing before the door the man had pointed out. He knocked first before placing his hand on the doorknob and starting to open it. But to his surprise, when he opened the door, the classroom was silent—completely silent. There was no one there. The classroom was empty!
"Did I perhaps arrive early?"
He wondered for a moment but quickly shook his head. This wasn't likely. He'd spent almost an hour wandering in search of his class; it was impossible for him to have arrived early.
So, he decided to return to the man and ask again.
"Sir, do you know where everyone went?"
The man clicked his tongue and spoke angrily.
"Click. Don't you even know your class schedule?!"
Raylen shook his head.
He really didn't know! How could he? He'd spent an entire hour looking for the academy while already living in it!!
How could this dumb creature possibly know his class schedule?
The man sighed, seemingly giving up on the boy's utter cluelessness.
"They're all in the training field right now, conducting the virtual dungeon test... Oh, and if you're going to ask where the training field is, it's located in the fifth building—the smaller one—two buildings away from this one. And no, I won't guide you there. All you need to do is use the map on your watch to get there."
"How—"
Raylen was about to say something, but the man cut him off before he could.
"As for how to use the map on your watch, all you need to do is tap on the watch three times, and the map will appear... Now, get out of my face."
The man scowled, furrowing his brows and waving Raylen away.
Raylen silently thanked the man and then proceeded to open the map and run toward the fifth building.
He didn't really understand what the man meant by a "virtual dungeon test" or what "training field" referred to.
But he assumed the "virtual dungeon test" was just some kind of new sport in this world...?
He didn't care much. He'd never been a fan of sports, but he ran silently toward the fifth building, hoping not to miss his first class at the academy!
---
It took him only 15 minutes of running to reach the second building. He was amazed; the fifth building was so far from his place, and yet he reached it in just 15 minutes without feeling any fatigue!
"It seems the owner of this body was athletic."
Yes, that was the only explanation he had.
"Hey, kid!"
Raelin turned when he heard someone calling him.
He opened his mouth, his eyes wide open.
"I take back everything I said. This body is athletic... but compared to this guy, I'm like an ant next to an elephant!"
Standing before him was a huge, muscular man with golden blonde hair shining under the sun, wearing sunglasses that covered his violet eyes. He looked fairly handsome.
He gave Raelin an angry look that sent a shiver down his spine.
Then, he started interrogating him in an angry tone.
"Hey, kid, who are you, and what the hell are you doing here?!"
"Who am I? ... Yes, that's a good question!"
Even he didn't know "who he was," how he got here, or why he was here!
He didn't even know his own name!
But he decided to keep all these questions to himself. Suddenly, he remembered the name mentioned in the warning message, so he spoke up.
"Kasper Allen, rank 2000, Class E/13... I'm here to..."
He paused and thought for a moment.
"Uh... I'm here to take the virtual dungeon test."
The man frowned when he heard Raelin's words, especially when he mentioned his rank. But soon, his frown turned into anger and sarcasm.
"Oh, so you're the student who skipped my class for a whole week, and now you're daring to show up late?!"
His voice grew louder with each word, drawing the attention of everyone around them.
"Yes, sir."
Raelin spoke without any hint of guilt, as though he hadn't done anything wrong. This surprised everyone and only increased the man's anger.
He didn't even know why the man was angry with him... I mean, sure, he had skipped an entire week and was late on his first day, but it wasn't like it was his fault. He didn't want any of this to happen...
If it were up to him, he'd be sitting in his apartment, holding his phone, and re-reading the novel Sword of Deconal for the fourth time...
sigh
Human emotions were something hard to understand!
It seemed his sigh didn't go unnoticed, as the man with the sunglasses heard it, which only made him angrier!
---