A book materialized in Adan's arms, its pages glowing faintly in the dim light of the library. His golden eyes locked onto Keon with an unsettling intensity.
"Your name. How you got into this world. Where, when, and how." His voice was calm but demanding, as if he were filling in blanks on a record rather than uncovering the truth of someone's existence.
Keon froze. His mind reeled at the implication behind those words. "You… you know I don't belong to this world?" he asked, his voice laced with shock.
Before Adan could respond, a lazy voice cut in.
"Man, you're not the only one," Mike the cat muttered, stretching his front paws before curling his tail around himself. "You're probably the 50th… or maybe the 60th? I don't really keep track." He yawned. "Adan does."
Adan, flipping through his book, barely looked up. "50th," he corrected flatly.
Keon's breath hitched. Fiftieth? What the hell did that mean? If there were others before him… what happened to them?
He exhaled sharply, rubbing his temples. "Give me a break," he muttered, overwhelmed. "Explain this properly."
Adan sighed, as if he'd had this conversation too many times before. "We've been getting a lot of you people—Outsiders, Outlanders, whatever you want to call yourselves. Some were summoned, some were reincarnators, and some… well, they just kind of showed up because of a god's mistake. You guys call it 'isekai' or something, right?" He glanced at Keon before adding, "By the way, do you have any comics to share?"
Keon blinked. "What?"
The sheer casualness of the question threw him off completely. His entire existence was being questioned, and this guy was asking for comics?
Ignoring his reaction, Keon pressed forward. "But… how did you know I was one of them?"
Adan snapped his book shut and finally gave Keon his full attention. "The Mystic World Tree, Aeloria, told me."
Keon felt his stomach drop. The big tree outside?
Before Keon could fully process the weight of Adan's words, the librarian suddenly vanished.
What—?!
A flicker of movement behind him sent a chill down his spine. Keon spun around, his instincts screaming, only to find Adan standing there, completely unbothered.
"Well," Adan said smoothly, tilting his head, "we usually find Outsiders pretty quickly. But let's just say… you're a bit special."
Keon narrowed his eyes. His patience was already wearing thin. "Special how?" He folded his arms. "Be specific."
Adan simply smiled, his expression unreadable.
Adan leaned against a nearby bookshelf, tapping his fingers idly on the cover of his book. "You want specifics? Fine."
He met Keon's gaze, his golden eyes sharp. "Normally, we find Outsiders almost immediately. Whether they're summoned, reincarnated, or just dumped here by mistake, they tend to leave… traces. The world notices them. The gods notice them. We notice them."
He gestured vaguely at Keon. "But you? You were different. It was like you weren't even here. No divine signatures, no disturbances in the flow of magic—nothing. It was like the world itself wasn't sure whether you existed or not."
Adan sighed, shutting his book with a soft thud. "And then, just when we thought we had nothing, you appeared. Then disappeared. Then appeared again." He arched an eyebrow. "You weren't just hiding—you were unstable. Your presence kept flickering in and out, making it almost impossible to track you down."
He crossed his arms, studying Keon curiously. "So yeah, I'd say that makes you special."
Keon blinked. Then blinked again. He opened his mouth, then closed it, tilting his head like a confused puppy.
"...Wait, hold on. So you're telling me—" He pointed at himself. "—that I was playing an elite game of hide-and-seek without even knowing?"
Adan sighed. "Not exactly—"
"So basically," Keon continued, cutting him off, "I was like a bad Wi-Fi signal. Just popping in and out, lagging through existence?"
Mike, still curled up nearby, lazily flicked his tail. "I mean… yeah, kinda."
Keon scratched the back of his head, suddenly looking sheepish. "Oh, my bad. That's probably just my System forcing me to keep leaping through worlds." He laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, it kinda does that. Super annoying."
Silence.
Adan and Mike just stared at him.
Keon looked between them. "...What?"
Adan squinted. "Your what?"
Mike's ears twitched. "Did he just say System?"
Keon froze. Oh. Crap.
Before Keon could even think of a way to backtrack, Mike suddenly vanished from his spot on the desk.
Poof!
The next second, Keon felt something land on his shoulders. He turned his head slightly, only to come face-to-face with a pair of sparkling, starry eyes.
"Wait, wait, WAIT." Mike's fluffy face was uncomfortably close. His tail flicked with excitement. "Did you just say System?! Like, an actual System-System?!"
Keon, still frozen, felt the weight of his mistake settle in. "...Uhh."
Keon was still processing the sheer enthusiasm radiating from the tiny, fluffy creature perched on his shoulders when he heard the distinct scratch of a quill against paper.
He turned his head just in time to see Adan calmly writing in his book, his expression unreadable.
Keon – Possible anomaly. Possesses a System?
Without looking up, Adan muttered, "Okay, that's new."
Then, as if just remembering something, he glanced at Keon. "Wait… what did you say makes you leap through worlds?"
Keon frowned as something clicked in his mind. He glanced between Adan and Mike. "Wait… does that mean the other Outsiders don't have a System?"
Adan looked up from his book and shook his head. "No. They can travel through worlds, yes, but only because they have permission and hold the power to do so."
Keon blinked. "Huh." He tapped his chin. "Then… how do you guys even know about Systems?"
Mike, still perched on his shoulders, narrowed his eyes, studying Keon more closely, as if trying to see something invisible.
Adan, meanwhile, simply shrugged. "We've read about them."
Keon raised an eyebrow. "Read?"
Adan casually flipped through his book. "Yeah. Other Outsiders have brought novels, comics… you know, stories from their worlds." He paused, giving Keon a pointed look. "A lot of them have these so-called 'System' things in them."
Keon stared. "You mean to tell me you learned about Systems… from isekai stories?"
Adan nodded. "Pretty much."