"...what you mortals call time. Time is merely the 4th dimension..." a mysterious voice echoed through the darkness.
"Huh? Who's invading my beauty sleep?" Inso grumbled, his signature bangs fluttering over his face like a dramatic curtain.
"What you perceive as memories are actually glimpses of your past. And imagine—your future self is watching you right this instant," the voice continued with the confidence of a YouTube conspiracy theorist.
"Ahhh, what the fuck? Who's rambling?"
Inso's eyes snapped open, his purple irises blazing behind his glasses. The small mole under his left eye seemed to twitch in annoyance as his vision focused on... wait, why were thirty pairs of eyes staring at him?
Oh shit. Not again.
A smart board. A professor whose vein was popping out of his forehead. And an entire lecture hall of students trying desperately not to laugh.
"I don't recall enrolling a sleeping beauty in my class," the professor's voice dripped with sarcasm. "What exactly are you doing here?"
"Sorry," Inso mumbled, gathering his things faster than a shoplifter at a convenience store. "I slept in."
As he attempted his tactical retreat, the professor blocked his path with surprising agility for someone who looked like he lived solely on coffee and student tears.
"You said I was rambling, right?" The professor's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What do you know about dimensions?"
The lecture hall erupted with notification sounds. Inso didn't need to look at his phone to know the class group chat was having a field day.
[GroupChat: Physics 101]
Hornycop: Peak brain-rot moment has arrived, folks!🍿
BLQueen: Oh god someone record this please
SleepyGuy69: That dude is SO dead
"I'm sorry, sir," Inso said with practiced humility that deserved an Oscar. "I'm a literature major. Dimensions aren't really my thing. I'll just... go now."
The professor scoffed so hard he nearly dislocated his jaw. "That's why humanity took 30 million years to evolve! When will we ever reach the next stage of consciousness if you're just sleeping and playing around? Those literature losers—"
Inso paused at the door, a thousand perfect comebacks dancing on his tongue.
He's asking a literature student about quantum physics and then blaming humanity's stunted evolution on ME? Why doesn't he look in a mirror and see who's REALLY holding back progress?
But Inso held his tongue. Low profile. That was his life plan.
As he walked out of the campus building, Inso looked up at the sky. He removed his glasses slightly and immediately regretted it.
Where others saw clouds and blue sky, Inso saw swirling masses of energy, particles dancing and colliding in a cosmic ballet that would make even the most hardened physicist weep.
"Dimensions, my ass," he muttered, jamming his glasses back on. "That quack is still babbling about the 4th and 5th dimensions when there are way more than that."
The average human eye can spot objects as small as 0.1mm.
Inso? He could see down to 0.1 nanometers. That's right—this man could casually watch electrons circle atoms while waiting for his instant ramen to cook.
For Inso, the world wasn't made of solid objects with clear boundaries. Everything was energy, constantly moving, shifting, vibrating.
This "gift" manifested when he was just 2 years old. By age 7, he could see the interior of atoms with his naked eyes—not exactly the superpower a child asks for when blowing out birthday candles.
Thankfully, his father—a brilliant scientist—realized something was wrong when little Inso started grabbing at seemingly empty air and stopped talking to people, preferring to converse with the fascinating particles only he could see.
His father created special glasses that filtered Inso's vision, allowing him to see the world like everyone else. Well, mostly.
Some energy signatures still slipped through, but at least he could finally distinguish between a hamburger and a nuclear reactor.
At age 10, Inso could finally breathe normally and function in society. He dreamed of becoming a scientist like his father, exploring the mysteries that only he could see.
But life threw a curveball when he turned 14. Inso found a dying bird, its energy dimming before his eyes. Without thinking, he reached out and... adjusted it. Stabilized the fluctuating energy patterns. The bird fluttered back to life as if nothing had happened.
That's when his father realized the truth: Inso didn't just have microscopic vision—he could manipulate energy itself.
His father's warning was clear: "Never show this ability to anyone."
But teenagers aren't exactly known for their impulse control. Secretly, Inso experimented.
He accidentally created a mini nuclear reaction in his cup noodles (which explained why they were suddenly so spicy). He unknowingly neutralized a potential pandemic by stabilizing a virus while brushing past a sick classmate.
Small victories in a world that looked nothing like what others saw. But fate had other plans.
His father died. Not by accident or natural causes, but murder—Inso could see the disrupted energy patterns clear as day. Someone wanted his father's research. The government dismissed him. His father's colleagues suddenly didn't return calls. The world Inso knew collapsed faster than a poorly constructed Jenga tower.
When everyone abandoned him, only his blind grandmother opened her door.
"Screw this world," Inso declared, burying his abilities deep. "I'm not using my power to advance you pieces of shit"
Tada! Edgy Backstory Complete
And that's how he ended up in literature, developing a personality so prickly that even cacti gave him space. It was his protective barrier: No Entry. Danger Zone. Approach at Your Own Risk.
Except for one person.
"INSO!" a familiar voice bellowed across the courtyard.
Here comes trouble.
Devi stormed toward him, her hair black as a moonless night, skin sun-kissed, and eyes that normally glowed like honey—except right now they promised pain.
"Noona!" Inso grinned, deploying his puppy dog eyes technique.
But I'm Sorry Inso. The Target is Immune to Cuteness ^v^
SMACK!
Devi's hand connected with the back of his head with surgical precision.
"Where the ACTUAL HELL were you during our group discussion?" The glitter in her eyes had vanished, replaced by something that made prehistoric predators seem cuddly by comparison.
"Sorry, Noona," Inso rubbed his head. "I fell asleep in someone else's lecture hall."
Devi rolled her eyes so hard they nearly disappeared into her skull. "Again? If we could bottle all the time you've spent sleeping in class, we'd be billionaires. What a shame there's no market for 'wasted potential,' huh?"
Her smile was sweet as poisoned honey. Inso gulped audibly.
"I covered your part today," she sighed, the anger melting into something more dangerous—disappointment. "Don't ghost us next time. That four-eyed sunbae is already on my last nerve. We don't need more enemies, do we?"
Inso nodded, a highlight reel of memories flashing through his mind. Since moving to his grandmother's house, Devi had been his constant. Not related by blood, yet closer than most siblings—the only person allowed past his carefully constructed walls.
"I'm heading out," Devi said. "Go home without me. And Inso?" She paused dramatically. "Next time you pull this stunt, I'm shaving your head."
Inso deployed maximum puppy eyes.
Devi responded by elegantly raising her middle finger before walking away.
"What a heartwarming display of friendship," Inso mumbled to himself.
"Just another normal day in paradise."
"I'm home!" he called out, entering the modest house that smelled perpetually of ginger and wisdom.
His grandmother's head popped around the corner, her sightless eyes somehow still finding him unerringly. "Go wash up. Soup's getting cold."
Inso nodded, heading to his sanctuary—a converted rooftop room where he could experiment freely and sleep without disturbance. His grandmother usually spent evenings with her fellow widowed friends downstairs, gossiping about everything from neighborhood affairs to which grandchild was slacking off in school.
Just another ordinary day. Sleep through class, get smacked by Devi, eat grandma's soup. The kind of peaceful monotony that comes after you decide to hide world-changing abilities from society.
Too bad the universe had other plans.
....
Miles away, near an abandoned construction site, reality itself seemed to glitch. Not an explosion—something far more alarming.
A figure materialized atop the skeletal structure of what would have been a high-rise. Tall, with eyes glowing golden like twin suns, hair white as starlight, and a face that would make sculptors weep with inadequacy.
The being looked around, confusion evident in his perfect features. He removed an earring studded with what appeared to be... eyes[1]? Many eyes? Eyeses? The object expanded in his palm, becoming an orb that pulsed with unnatural light as he scanned the surroundings.
"Shit!" the divine being cursed with decidedly un-divine language. "When did these monkeys evolve?"
What could possibly bring this majesty to our humble earth?
And more importantly—would Inso ever get to finish his soup?
[1] You can see it in the cover. The white hair guy's bling bling earring