Kia didn't answer right away.
His gaze lingered on the faded summoning circle, the cracks spiderwebbing across the ancient stone. Then he looked down at his own hands—still trembling slightly from the cold and everything else—and finally stood up.
"Yeah," he muttered. "I'm coming."
*
The ruined hall gave way to broken corridors choked with overgrowth. Moss clung to every stone surface, and wild roots jutted from between gaps in the floor. The occasional broken statue or rusted sconce reminded Kia that this had once been a place of grandeur.
Now, it was just a skeleton.
Rei led the way, moving with the careful confidence of someone used to stepping over traps. Kaela had rejoined them somewhere along the way, emerging from behind a collapsed wall with a shake of her head.
"Perimeter's clear," she said. "No monsters."
"Then let's not waste time," Rei replied. "Sun's already tilting west."
Kaela glanced at Kia, her expression unreadable. "He's coming?"
"Unfortunately," Rei said. "He seems to have legs."
Kia arched a brow. "I also have ears, you know."
Kaela smirked, and for a second Kia wasn't sure if she actually disliked him or if that was just her default tone.
They stepped out of the ruin through a crumbled archway, the remains of once-mighty castle gates. Beyond it lay a vast expanse of rolling grassland, dotted with ruined stone outposts and craters long since overgrown. In the distance, a forest loomed, dark and thick with ancient trees.
As they began walking across the cracked path that used to be a road, Kia broke the silence.
"So… adventurers, huh?"
Rei glanced back at him. "Yeah. What about it?"
"Well," Kia said, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pocket, "I'm assuming that means you fight monsters, explore ruins, chase treasure, and… save villages from angry lords?"
Kaela snorted.
Rei raised an eyebrow. "That's oddly specific."
He shrugged. "I used to write webnovels."
"What's a webnovel?"
"...nevermind."
They walked in silence for a while longer, the grass crunching under their boots—and his socks—until Kia spoke again.
"So what does it actually mean? Adventurer, I mean. Is it a job? A class? A lifestyle?"
Rei answered this time. "It's an official license. Anyone with a recognized combat skill, support ability, or enough guts to try can apply. The Guild ranks you, and gives you task. If you survive long enough, you earn coin. And maybe a reputation."
"Ranks?" Kia asked. "Like bronze to platinum, that kind of thing?"
"Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum," Rei replied. "We're both Silver-ranked."
Kaela rolled her shoulder with a faint clink of armor. "Barely."
"That's just because you blew our last payment on that cursed dagger."
"It was cursed after I bought it."
"You should've checked the enchantments—"
Kia let their argument fade into the background.
It was oddly soothing, actually.
The kind of back-and-forth bickering that didn't carry real heat. Like a sitcom running on low volume in another room.
And right now, he needed normal.
His body still trembled—not from fear or cold exactly, though both were probably in the mix. But it wasn't because he missed his old world.
He didn't.
There was nothing there for him. No home worth longing for, no faces he'd burn into memory. No grand love left behind. No regrets. Just... quiet. A gray, uneventful sort of living that blended into itself.
He had left that world the same way he had lived in it.
Unnoticed.
So, no, this wasn't panic.
This was confusion. The deep, buzzing kind that came when your brain short-circuited trying to assign logic to the illogical.
Magic.
He was in a world where magic existed.
That word alone hit him like an electric jolt.
Magic. Real magic. Not stage tricks or fiction.
And from the way Kaela had scouted the perimeter… monsters seem to exist too.
Kia swallowed.
He wasn't sure how to feel about that second part. Magic sounded incredible. Monsters sounded like a health risk.
Still.
Kia watched as Rei gesture animatedly with one hand while Kaela grumbled and adjusted the leather strap across her chest.
He'd never been in a situation remotely like this. Adventurers. Summoning circles. This looked like it was supposed to be someone else's story.
Some confident, sword-wielding protagonist with charm and plot armor.
Not him.
He barely remembered to eat three times a day. His most heroic accomplishment was carrying all the grocery bags up in one trip.
And yet, somehow… here he was.
Summoned. Alone. In a new world.
It was terrifying.
It was ridiculous.
It was also, maybe—just maybe—the first interesting thing to ever happen to him.
For a moment, Kia allowed that thought to settle in.
A world with magic.
Rei slowed her pace, her voice unexpectedly soft.
"Do you hate us?"
The question cut through Kia's thoughts like a knife through silence.
He blinked, glancing sideways at her. "What?"
"The summoning," she clarified, still not looking at him. "I know it wasn't exactly our fault… but we were involved." Her tone was cautious. "You had a life. We ripped you from it. You'd have every right to hate us."
Kia fell quiet.
Hate?
Was that what this was?
The ache in his chest, the hollowness behind his ribs, the lingering fog of everything that had changed in a single instant…
No. That wasn't hate.
"I don't hate you," he said, his voice quiet but certain.
Rei's shoulders visibly relaxed. Kaela, up ahead, didn't turn around, but Kia noticed the tension ease from her posture too.
"That doesn't mean I'm fine," he added after a beat. "Or that it didn't mess me up. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm even feeling right now. But it's not hate."
Rei nodded slowly. "That's… good. Thanks for saying it."
Kia didn't answer. Instead, he studied the two women ahead of him—his accidental summoners, now reluctant escorts.
Neither of them looked like side characters.
And compared to them, Kia felt like background noise.
Still barefoot. Still wearing his hoodie. Still out of place.
Yet despite everything, neither Rei nor Kaela had pushed him away. They hadn't mocked his confusion, or left him behind in the ruins. And when he admitted he didn't hate them, they were relieved.
They cared. Even if just a little.
That alone made this place feel… slightly less hostile.
Kia adjusted the sleeves of his hoodie and glanced toward the horizon, where golden sunlight bled through the trees.
"By the way," Rei said, glancing over her shoulder, "I still wonder what your special ability will be."
"Special ability?" Kia echoed.
"Well, even if the world doesn't need a hero anymore… you're still one. And all heroes have a special ability."
"I might be different, though."
Rei shrugged. "I doubt it. Just check your status—you'll know."
"Status?"
The moment the word left his lips, a glowing panel snapped into view in front of Kia's eyes.
"Whoa!" he yelped, stumbling back a step.
The glowing panel hovered silently in the air before him—transparent, yet solid in its presence. Lines of text floated neatly in place, as though someone had coded a fantasy game UI directly into his vision.
Kia gawked.
[STATUS]
Name: Kia
Race: Human
Class: Unawakened
Rank: Unawakened
Attributes:
Strength: 8
Vitality:9
Focus: –
Skills:
[Common Tongue – LV 5 MAX]
[—]
Title:
[Hero]
"…No way," Kia muttered, eyes widening at the last line. He rubbed his eyes. The panel stayed.
Rei peered curiously over her shoulder. "You've seen your status?"
Kia slowly nodded. "Yeah. There's a whole panel thing. Class, stats, skills…"
Kaela let out a low whistle. "You getting the hang of this."
"I'm not supposed to?" Kia asked, brows raised.
"Thought you'd sound more confused to be honest," she said,
"I see... I don't!" Kia blurted, quickly raising his hands. "Okay—before either of you say anything else—what exactly is this panel thing?"