"It seems that we are experiencing a minor engine failure. All passengers, please remain calm."
What do you mean minor engine failure? Half of the left wing's propeller is gone! And is that fire coming out of the wing?!
Wonplem looked out the side of the aircraft from his window seat in horror as the rest of the passengers murmured to themselves, seemingly unaware of the situation happening literally right outside. Closing the window immediately so as to not alert the other passengers, Wonplem took up the cup of tea from his tray and took a long sip.
Inner peace...
...
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING AGAIN?!!!!?!?!?!!?
***
*Record scratch
*Freeze Frame
Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation.
My name is Wonplem Oling. You may be thinking: What kind of monstrosity is this name? Family, ancestry, and creativity – or so my parents say. Apparently it also got shifted by accident on my birth record, so I'm stuck with it now. How in the world could it get 'shifted by accident'? Ah, we're getting there – my extremely horrible luck in possibly every single situation possible.
If luck was a skill, I probably maxed it out... just in the wrong direction. And no, I don't think I did this intentionally. Because as far as I could remember, my life (possibly even before), has only been plagued by the worst of incidents. Honestly, it's already amazing that I even was born considering the umbilical cord was tied around my neck thrice. Good going there, mom.
While my family has forcibly isolated me from them, it's not like they did so out of fear or anything, but for their own safety. They video call me from time to time, but those only last about 3 to 5 minutes max due to the signal oh-so-mysteriously cutting off due to some random reason again. But hey, at least they love me – it could arguably be worse – I've seen that in many novels.
In short, everyday I tend to experience 'incidents'. Oh, not those apocalyptic kind where everyone suddenly turns into zombies, but they're definitely not small enough to be called inconveniences most of the time. I mean, when's the last time an incident was just me getting robbed? Chances are, if I am getting robbed, both me and the robber would probably die of an AC unit falling on our heads.
Speaking of things falling on my head, I believe the most common occurrence so far are the flower pots. Don't get me wrong, there are much deadlier incidents: like the collapse of a drawbridge I was on, the explosion of a gas station I was buying snacks at, and perhaps even a misdirected terrorist missile. I've been through a lot. But the flower pots are very persistent. They come at me every day. I've lost track at how many times I had to go to the hospital for this. Oh, like look at it now-
***
As Wonplem leaned back in his seat, a flower pot came hurtling at his face from the front of the plane as it reeled, crashing straight into his face while the dirt splattered everywhere. The passenger next to him look horrified as the clay shards of the flower pot slowly draped down his body.
"Young man!" The woman immediately rushed for a tissue paper to wipe the dirt away on Wonplem's face, but he was already tidying himself up. A thin layer of a plastic drape he wore previously on his body now contained the incident that just occurred, though his face was still covered with dirt.
"Ah, thank you..." Wonplem scratched his head in shyness before accepting the tissue and proceeded to wipe the dirt off his face. "There, all clean. Thank you very much, ma'am-"
Before Wonplem could even finish his sentence, a second flower pot crashed into his face, this time scratching his left cheek a little, but no blood flowed forth. Now reasonably triggered, Wonplem stood up from his seat and yelled. "WHO BRINGS FLOWER POTS ON A PLANE-"
Right on cue, a third flower pot came flying through the air and smashed into Wonplem's face.
"..."
"Sir, a third pot just hit your-"
"Mhm. I'm aware." Wonplem sat down in defeat and proceeded to take his own tissue to wipe the dirt on his face away. The flowers that were in the pots now laid helplessly on his seat, being deprived of their habitat. How many plant lives have been fed to my unluckiness at this point? It's honestly enough to make the extinction events look tame...
After taking another sip of his tea, now enriched with the petrichor of dirt, Wonplem realized something and turned to the woman next to him.
"Wait. Are we falling?"
The woman looked back at him blankly before she slowly reached over his seat and lifted up the window, to which she immediately noticed their obviously decreasing altitude.
"..."
"..."
The two exchanged a long stare before letting out a synchronized scream that triggered everyone else's panic attacks, and the entire plane revelled in their screams before the flight attendants simply quit and returned to their seats.
"Ahem." The pilot decided to step in and started an announcement. "Control tower has already dispatched flying-type Rankers to help us, so don't worry. We should be fine-"
As soon as the pilot said that, the plane suddenly tilted forward as the pilot slowly edged the microphone closer to his mouth.
"Um, on second thought, we might be fucked-"
With that, the plane took a nose dive and fell through the clouds, straight towards the ground as those who didn't fasten their seatbelts scrambled for their safety harnesses and hastily clipped them in as everyone continued falling. Wonplem, who had long fastened his seatbelt before hand, tightened it slightly more as he looked out the window.
"This is going great..."
As the city came into view, Wonplem realized that they had little time left, and everyone's screaming certainly did not help. But a loud clang sounded the plane's underside, and the plane's descent was suddenly halted, as if being caught by someone. The plane slowly tilted back before the view realigned to the horizontal axis, and Wonplem let out a sigh of relief.
"All that ends well..."
Usually, despite incidents constantly occurring to me, if I am in a public space, it is much harder for me to be impacted individually. As such, Rankers, now prevalent everywhere in the world, would probably come to the general public's rescue, which is not the worst thing considering that I'm among those who saved. If I'm lucky (*insert sarcastic cough), and and an incident is nothing in the face of a powerful Ranker, I might just be able to-
A loud crack suddenly came from Wonplem's seat as the woman beside him looked on in confusion, and Wonplem tightened his seatbelt even more before immediately fastening his shoelaces to make sure they were intact before hugging his backpack on his body.
"It's been a nice flight, and you were quite decent for the average Economy Class passenger." Wonplem said as he shook the woman's hand while she simply gave him a confused look as she slowly recovered from the shock of the incident just prior.
"Sir, what do you mean-"
As if impeccable comic timing, the woman didn't even finish her sentence before a hole appeared beneath Wonplem's seat, and he fell through immediately with a whoosh before she let out another loud scream. Wonplem, who was still attached to his seat with backpack, glanced upwards and saw a man holding up the plane with his bare hands. Huh, to possess such strength while flying... he must be one of the top Rankers...
At the same moment, the man made eye contact with Wonplem and immediately yelled into his communications device. "Nabi! We have a passenger out of the plane!"
"I'm on it!" A girl wearing a orange and black suit shot through the air straight at Wonplem, who simply stared nonchalantly back at her. "Um, hi... do you speak Korean...?"
"Eh, a little..." Wonplem replied back.
"Oh! You don't even have much of an accent!"
"Well, I do have some Korean heritage, I suppose... but can you help me out first?"
"Ah, right, right!" The girl named 'Nabi' immediately unfastened the seatbelt and held Wonplem up into the air while he held his backpack on tightly. "Don't worry, I'll get you to safety. Taehyun up there will take them to the airport, and I'll claim your bag for you. Where are you staying?"
"Ah, I'll pull it out on my phone once we land, Ms...Nabi?"
"Oh, Nabi's my codename. You know, for the butterfly wings I have?" The girl flexed her wings behind her back as they flapped, generating a small air current that lifted them both up a little. "Anyways, my name is Kim Jiyoo, and-"
Before the girl could finish her introduction, Wonplem suddenly felt himself slipping out of Jiyoo's grasp, and before long, he was out completely and began falling again.
Oop, here comes gravity-
"Sorry! I think I applied too much hand lotion!" Jiyoo yelled before diving down towards Wonplem, who continued to plummet down the atmosphere until he reached building level, and only then did he begin to actually panic.
"Parachute, parachute... ah. Here!" Wonplem wore his backpack around before pressing a button, and his parachute popped out immediately, but there was a gaping hole on one of the sides. Looking up at the parachute, Wonplem's face turned grim.
You've got to be kidding me-
However, the brief window he managed to create allowed Jiyoo to once again catch him and slowly lower them both to the ground as they collapsed, gasping for air.
Note to self: unless absolutely necessary, do not ride a plane again. EVER.
*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****-*****
Well, at least Jiyoo was very nice about it. She got my bags and everything.
Wonplem strolled out of the hotel he was staying at with a simple backpack filled with the basic equipment to any outdoor hike, and waited at the bus stop as he scrolled through his phone for messages. Immediately at the top of his messages list was one from his dad.
Hey son, you got there yet? Please send a reply if you did.
I know we haven't exactly talked in a long time, but I hope the money reached your accounts and you're doing well. I already contacted the temple ahead of time, so they should be ready to receive you when the time comes.
Your mom and sister miss you too, just as I do. Please, whatever you do... put your safety first, given that, well, of your condition, okay? Just promise me that.
Wonplem smiled down at his phone before he quickly sent a reply as the bus arrived.
Of course, dad. I would never let you guys down.
With that, Wonplem eventually found his seat on the bus, and immediately pressed the seat to check for any malfunctions, but surprisingly, nothing out of the ordinary occurred. Sighing with relief, Wonplem took a seat – and it collapsed onto the floor. Thankfully, the bus driver was too occupied with his phone, his seat was in the back, and there weren't many people taking this line, allowing this incident to go unnoticed. As such, Wonplem simply accepted his fate and simply laid down on the collapsed seat.
"Well, at least collapsing makes my seat feel like a first-class one with reclining features-"
The seat proceeded to sink just a little bit more into the floor of the bus.
"I will shut up."
Opening his phone and scrolling to his playlist, Wonplem attempted to tap onto the first song, only to accidentally swipe down and tap the seventh. Sighing, he resigned his efforts and simply let the music play through his headphones before drifting off to a slight nap. About an hour and a half later, Wonplem was woken up by a very angry bus driver.
"OI! KID! What did you do to my bus?!"
Wonplem groggily woke up and rubbed his eyes in confusion before realizing his predicament.
"I'm sorry sir- OW"
Upon seeing the fuming bus driver, he quickly scrambled up and attempted a 90 degrees bow, only to slam his head into a seat and clutch it in pain the next moment. Sighing, the bus driver simply sat down on another seat.
"Alright, kid, just cough up a hundred thousand won, and I'll let you off."
"But sir, I don't have any money on me..."
"You don't have money? What kind of imbecile doesn't carry any money with them?"
"What is an imbecile???"
"..."
"Also, sir, with all due respect, I didn't do anything to the seat. It just cracked on its own."
"Don't you get smart with me, kid, I just replaced all the damaged parts in this bus a few weeks ago, so-"
A loud crack sounded as the seat the bus driver sat on cracked and lowered itself slightly before Wonplem and the bus driver's eyes met.
"Fine... just go." The bus driver let out a long sigh as Wonplem scrambled to get off the bus. As he looked up the staircase that seemed to almost stretch straight up to the heavens, Wonplem took out two hiking sticks and prepared to walk up the long stretch of ascending stairs, but the first hiking stick immediately cracked and he fell face first into the stone stairs.
"Ow."
Frustrated but expecting this outcome, Wonplem sighed and stuffed the broken hiking stick into his backpack before he walked up with the second one. Sure enough, within another two steps, it cracked and Wonplem was once again sent straight at the stone.
"Ow."
Having completely given up at this point, Wonplem looked at the long flight of stairs ahead of him, and steeled his nerves as he took a step towards the top, only to end up slipping down and landing face flat for the third time.
"Okay, I swear, if this happens again, I'm just going to sit here."
Amazingly, the next step Wonplem took did not result in any immediate casualties.
And the next.
And the next after that.
In fact, in Wonplem's long journey up the flight of stairs from that point onward, no incidents occurred until he reached the top, where the gate's sign dropped on his head.
"Okay, OW. But at least I got up the stairs... is this what they mean by 'everything has a difficult start'? Also, what to do with this sign...?"
Before he could ponder any further, Wonplem saw the gate open as an elderly man walked out and waved to him. "Oh! Are you Mr. Oling's son Wonplem?"
"Ah, yes, halbae, and you are?"
"Ah, just call me Gong. I've worked here for a few decades, and we've all gotten used to the new stuff. You know, keeping up with the modern times is hard, eh? Come in, come in! We have tea!"
With that, Wonplem accepted the invitation and narrowly avoided being tripped over by the doorstop, and continued onwards into the temple's garden. Through the guidance of Elder Gong, he eventually arrived at the site of a tombstone, where his great-grandfather's name was etched.
[Here lies Oh Kwon Sook]
Taking out a bouquet of flowers that he had received at the entrance, Wonplem placed it next to the grave and took a knee in front of the grave before bowing.
"Great-grandfather. Your great-grandson comes and pays his respects. Our family is doing well... and I... not so well. But I believe one day my luck can finally turn around, and my family can stop worrying about me, honestly..."
Wonplem trailed off before remembering all the hardships he has endured, all the near-death experiences and hospital trips he had to make due to his 'curse', and the tears of his family while watching him undergoing surgery...
...and his eyes eventually landed on some extremely small text on the tombstone's bottom. Curious, he inched closer and squinted at the words, slowly being able to make sense the Korean hangul as he pieced them together.
"Continue to carry on our destiny, as always." Wonplem scratched his head in confusion. "A message from his war comrades, I suppose?"
But before Wonplem could say another word, a ping suddenly sounded in his head as his status window popped up with a glaringly red notification in the message tab.
Ah, good old status window. To think such a useless tool to me was the catalyst to so many others' success. Honestly, due to my horrible luck, my stats can't even improve in the slightest anyways, so I never checked it unless absolutely necessary. So what is it now?
After Wonplem clicked on the message icon, a message labelled [Global Alert] popped up:
[Attention to all inhabitants of the selected planet, Earth]
[If you're receiving this message, you have been selected as a Player! That means you have done enough outstanding achievements for the System to recognize your existence! Great job!]
[As such, as the trials enter the next stage, we're pleased to announce the grand opening of the Towers of Worlds!]
[To simplify, you shall bear the last of your civilization's hope to-]
Wonplem closed the message immediately. "Urgh. I don't got the time for this. Also, it's suicide if I put myself in more danger than what I'm already accustomed to, so..."
"Wait. A 'Player'?"
The System in the status windows have always called us 'Users', but never 'Players'.
As the realization hit, the message bar popped up again, but this time by itself and not out of Wonplem's own will.
[Oh, and if you're chosen... YOU MUST PLAY]
[So I'll do you a favour and send you to the 0th Floor~!]
"..."
Wonplem waited for a second to pause for dramatic effect, but nothing of note occurred as he scanned his surroundings. While he did not let his guard down, Wonplem started to slowly back away from the tombstones to avoid a gate from spawning right on top of great-grandfather's grave. But the next thing he knew, his foot stepped into empty space as he fell through a hole, and he barely managed to hold on to the ground while he tried to reach for his crowbar in his backpack.
"OI! I did not agree to this- WOOOOAOAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
And so, Wonplem was dragged off into the Towers of Worlds, with nothing but a tiny 'pop' sound emerging after the portal closed. The only thing that even indicated his existence in the place prior was the bouquet of flowers he placed. As Elder Gong walked by, he noticed the flowers but couldn't see Wonplem anywhere.
"Is he gone already? Honestly, youngsters these days..."