Chapter 3: The Beginning of the End
The moment he took his first step, the ground shifted beneath him, an odd sensation of vertigo overcoming his senses. His body was small, frail, yet his thoughts were anything but. His mind raced, questions swirling, but the answers evaded him. Everything about this world felt like an illusion, a mirage waiting to be torn apart.
[System Notification: Transitioning to the Path of the Beginning.]
The notification echoed in his mind, but the words made little sense. Path of the Beginning? He didn't understand it. Path of what?
Jihwan steadied himself, trying to focus on the present. He could feel the weight of the air around him, but there was no time to waste. The future, whatever it was, was now his to write—or to suffer.
The wind, gentle yet constant, carried with it an odd chill, and it smelled of distant places—places he had never been, and yet felt somehow familiar. The landscape stretched endlessly before him, a vast expanse of grasslands and hills under a cloudless sky. No signs of life, no creatures, no civilization. Only silence, like a forgotten dream.
But then, as if summoned by his thoughts, a faint glow appeared in the distance.
He wasn't sure whether it was his imagination playing tricks on him or something else entirely, but something drew him toward it. Maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was the pull of the unknown. Either way, he couldn't resist.
As he walked toward the light, his surroundings seemed to blur, as though reality itself was bending to his will—or maybe, to the will of something far greater than him. The glow intensified with every step, and soon, he could make out the form of a figure in the distance.
A person? No—more like a silhouette, blurred at the edges, like a fading star.
[System Notification: Unidentified entity detected.]
Jihwan stopped in his tracks, a warning bell ringing in his mind. But the pull of the figure was stronger than any sense of caution he had left. He had no choice but to keep moving.
As he approached, the figure solidified before his eyes. It was humanoid in shape, though its features were shrouded in an ethereal light that seemed to make it impossible to focus on. The figure stood still, like a sentinel guarding the very threshold of the unknown.
"Welcome, Reader," a voice whispered, low and resonant, as though it came from the depths of the universe itself.
Jihwan froze. The words weren't simply heard, they were felt—deep within him, vibrating with some ancient, primal force. The voice was not human, not even like anything he had ever heard before. It was something more, something beyond the boundaries of reality.
"Who are you?" Jihwan's voice came out, raw and unsteady, but the question burned in his throat. "What is this place? What do you want from me?"
The figure's form flickered, and then, without any obvious motion, it stepped forward, closing the distance between them in an instant.
[System Notification: Entity identified as "The Guardian of the Beginning."]
The Guardian of the Beginning.
The title felt significant, like a key to a door he hadn't known existed. He didn't know why, but hearing those words sent a strange chill down his spine.
"The Beginning is a path only the worthy walk," the figure spoke again, its voice resonating in the air around them. "And you, Reader, have been chosen."
"Chosen for what?" Jihwan demanded, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Guardian's glow dimmed slightly, the figure's form becoming sharper, clearer. Its eyes—or what Jihwan presumed were its eyes—glowed like distant stars, ancient and unblinking.
"To read," the Guardian replied simply. "To read and understand the flow of time itself. To walk the path that binds all destinies."
Jihwan's confusion only deepened. "But... I'm just a reader. I... I don't even understand what's happening. I'm just—"
"You are more than you know," the Guardian interrupted, its voice like a thousand echoes bouncing off the walls of time itself. "The world you have entered is not just a world. It is a nexus. A place where the very essence of time, fate, and reality converges. And you, as a Reader, hold the power to reshape it."
Jihwan's heart pounded in his chest, each beat like the tolling of a bell, signaling the approach of something enormous. He wanted to protest, to ask questions, but the weight of the Guardian's words held him in place.
"The time you've spent reading has connected you to the very threads of reality," the Guardian continued. "But every thread has an end. And every ending is but a beginning. Your journey has only just begun."
Jihwan's mind raced. He had to make sense of this. Reader... power to reshape... nexus...
And then the Guardian stepped back, its form fading into the light. Before it disappeared entirely, it spoke one final time.
"Remember, Reader, the power you seek is both a gift and a curse. You will walk a path full of trials, but it will be your choices, your decisions, that determine whether you remain the Reader of the Beginning—or if you will fall into the hands of those who seek to control fate."
And then, as quickly as it had appeared, the figure was gone.
Jihwan was left standing in the middle of the field, the weight of those words pressing down on him. The Reader of the Beginning. The title echoed in his mind, and for the first time since waking in this strange world, Jihwan began to understand that he was no longer just a passive reader.
He was part of the story now.