As soon as he chose the option [Yes], the world around him began to twist and shift. For Kai, it was a completely different experience—his body felt lighter than air, so weightless that it seemed like he was floating in space. A melting sensation crawled across his skin, seeping deep into his bones, and his mind went blank.
---
His eyelids twitched open slowly, but his vision was nothing but a blur. The same sharp pain pulsed in his head, forcing him to clench his teeth and grab at his temples with both hands. Only when the pain began to fade did the blur sharpen into something clearer.
Still, he couldn't see much. Fog clung to everything around him under a dim, broken moonlight. It felt like midnight in the dead of winter, yet he felt no cold—just an unsettling, neutral air pressing down on him.
Kai pushed himself off the ground. It was pitch black with faint streaks of violet, strange and unnatural, but he ignored it and focused on the glowing system screen in front of him.
"Please don't leave me without instruction," he muttered, almost like a prayer.
[First Trial of Shadow Route has been initiated]
[Trial Goal: Survive for 10 minutes]
"Shadow… huh?" he whispered.
Glancing back at the ground, curiosity got the better of him. He brushed his finger across its surface. Immediately, the black soil rippled—not like water, but like spirals twisting outward from his touch, bending reality itself.
It swirled under his fingertip, but didn't drag him in.
Until… he slowly felt his body sinking into the ground. The cold tug of the shadow pulled at his legs. Panic shot through him—he shoved down with his hands, and suddenly he was free, coughing air that wasn't even there.
"What… was that?" His heart hammered. He pressed his palm against the spot he'd sunk into. It was solid—hard, unmoving—except for the faint swirl that rippled under his touch.
"I get it… I drowned because I wasn't moving. Back then, my palms stayed out because they were in motion. That's why I managed to push myself free."
The thought chilled him more than the fog. What would've happened if he hadn't noticed? Would he just… vanish? Die quietly? Or worse, be trapped beneath this endless black, suffocating in silence until his body gave out?
He shook the thought away and tested. The countdown ticked in the corner of his vision.
[ 47 seconds survived ]
Kai stood still, one leg planted, the other lightly tapping the ground. The still foot began to sink. He yanked it free, heartbeat steady, and checked again.
[ 1 minute 18 seconds survived ]
He muttered to himself, lips pressed tight.
"Margin of a second or two, but clear enough—anything alive, or even touching something alive, sinks after thirty seconds without movement."
A bitter laugh escaped. "Guess I should be grateful I didn't wake up too late."
It also meant this place wasn't for sleeping. The creatures here—if they existed—either didn't need rest… or were immune to the shadow's pull.
Neither option was good for him.
He took a breath, eyes flicking to the dim, broken sky. The fog cut off nearly everything beyond arm's reach. Sight was useless.
"Then I'll have to trust my ears instead."
He bent his knees, jumped once to keep himself moving, and landed lightly.
[ 1 minute 29 seconds survived ]
"I've to stay sharp… the system wouldn't just throw me into drowning shadows for nothing. There has to be more to this place."
Kai stilled his breath and focused on his hearing.
[2 minutes survived]
"Now that I think about it," he muttered under his breath, "this feels less like a death trap and more like training. The system probably wants me to learn the rules of this world—get familiar with it before the real trials hit. That means I need to gather as much information as possible before I get out…"
His lips tightened as another thought crept up. But what if dying here means dying for real? The idea clawed at him, but he shook his head violently. "No time for that. No time for fear."
He glanced at the countdown again, then at the swirling ground. Thirty seconds of stillness, then it swallows me whole. Movement is survival. But what else is hiding here?
The fog thickened as he pressed on. Every step made the swirls churn beneath his boots like black water trying to drag him down.
He kept moving—carefully—until the silence of the world cracked.
Something echoed through the mist. A low, grinding noise like heavy chains or a massive body being dragged across stone. It was faint, but it was there, far ahead of him.
Kai froze, muscles tense. He could feel the swirls tug at his boots again and forced himself to shift his weight, keeping the shadows from taking him. His pulse hammered in his ears.
"What… the hell is that sound?" he whispered, his voice swallowed by the fog.
He crouched low, eyes narrowing, listening again. The dragging noise came in pulses—stop, drag, stop, drag—like something huge moving with deliberate rhythm. He couldn't tell if it was coming closer or circling him.
[2 minutes 34 seconds survived]
Kai's jaw clenched. "This world… it's not empty."
He forced his feet to keep moving, one step at a time, heart thundering in his chest. If this is just the tutorial, what are the real trials going to look like?
Although Kai was fully aware that strange and creepy things could happen in this place, a twinge of fear still gripped him—mostly because he couldn't see clearly. It felt like some unseen ghost was watching, stalking him.
[5 minutes & 44 seconds survived]
After a while, the dragging sound faded… but then a new noise reached his ears. This one wasn't distant like before; it echoed from nearby.
"Someone… or something is coming toward me," Kai thought, instantly turning to face the direction. He could pinpoint it now, thanks to the subtle echoes.
His heart thumped as a figure emerged into his blurry vision. It looked almost human… but not. More like a twisted monkey. At first, it seemed to move slowly, but in an instant it lunged inches from Kai's face, forcing him to stumble backward.
Fear gripped him tightly. The figure had appeared so suddenly, like it had teleported from nowhere, and its grotesque features made the hairs on his neck stand on end.
Its body was a disturbing hybrid—human-like torso with limbs like a monkey, and a long, waving tail trailing behind. But the truly horrifying part was its face.
No lips. Dozens of sharp, jagged teeth were exposed as it snarled. Its eyes were bloodshot with tiny, black pupils, glowing faintly in the dim fog. Its coarse body hair added a wild, almost untamed look that made the creature feel like a nightmare made flesh.
Kai froze, unsure whether to run, attack, or even think. His mind raced, but his body refused to move. He had never seen anything like this… and he didn't know if moving too quickly would make it attack.
[6 minutes 25 seconds survived.]
Kai started to panic even more as he found himself being drowned in the shadow ground.
'What's happening?! I just moved! Why am I drowning?' His chest tightened—he was already half under.
[Critical Hit]
[Your hand has been cut]
"What?!" He turned frantically but couldn't find his arm—until the pain caught up and he realized.
"When did—?"
[-15 HP]
[HP will continue to decrease by 1 until the blood stops leaking]
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
Kai's gaze shot upward—there, a few meters away, the monkey's figure loomed, chewing on something.
[-1 HP]
[-1 HP]
[1 out of 20 HP remaining]
Only the top of his head and streaks of blood floated on the purple-black ground now. The system's glow flickered dimly above him.
Until—
[Cong—]
He drowned completely.
———