Yoo Seung-yoon slowly opened his eyes, feeling the soft glow of Extras World wrap around him like a warm embrace.
This morning—or whatever counted as morning in this strange pocket dimension—he floated gently, the air shimmering faintly with light that had no clear source but offered comfort.
Despite the softness around him, his mind buzzed. Memories he never expected to keep flickered like broken screens: the alleyway, the cold slow spread of death, the shattered hopes of unfinished stories.
Yet here he was, reborn, small and fragile, but filled with the sharp clarity of an adult mind tangled inside an infant's body.
Akasha Archive, the calm analytic voice that had been with him since his first thought, echoed softly in his mind.
"Initial assessment: mental faculties exceed normal human levels by more than 300%. Physical form—infant, 7.2 months gestation, but enhanced. Innate skills forming and adapting as you grow."
He flexed his fingers experimentally, tiny limbs feeling heavy and weak, yet the air around them rippled, bending reality ever so slightly. A small, almost imperceptible shimmer surrounded the tips of his fingers. "What is this feeling?" he thought, wide-eyed.
"Your first skill, 'Melt.' It allows finely controlled acid generation, first manifested at birth to sever your umbilical cord without harm."
He suddenly recalled the parting anguish of his host mother, the desperate urge to survive that had burned in his soul even as his body weakly pushed against overwhelming odds.
The acid, a burning sensation in his throat now, was a reminder: necessity could create power — his power.
His thoughts flowed like a stream opening new channels.
"Bind," Akasha continued. "Second skill. Organic threads capable of sealing wounds, creating flexible tools stronger than steel cables."
He imagined weaving delicate threads from invisible silk, patching himself together whenever torn by the harshness of existence.
But there were more.
_"Special Eyes — an ability to perceive the fundamental states of matter and energy.*
"Energy Sense — a heightened awareness of life force and dimensional energies around you."
"Extras World — a safe pocket dimension under your full control, inaccessible to external threats."
The realization settled in like a burning weight. He was no ordinary child. A cosmic anomaly born from forces far beyond human understanding.
—
Above, the bunker still trembled.
Jae-sung and the hunters fought tooth and nail in dim halls, plasma blasts ripping through stone and shadow alike. The battle was relentless, no ouncem of their strength wasted.
A quick series of messages flashed on Jae-sung's comm.
"Gamma-7 still holding."
"Multiple breacheus detected. Overlord-class approaching."
His jaw tightened. The nightmare above ground had become their relentless prison.
Nearby, terrified civilians scrambled to emergency shelters, guided by panicked but steady hunters.
"Come on, keep moving!" Jae-sung urged, the weight of helplessness pressing on his chest like a stone.
—
Back in Extras World, Yoo's eyes snapped open sharper than before.
"Akasha," he thought, breath hitching. "Scan."
Hostile entities detected. Multiple Overlord-class threats within kilometers.
A surge of determination coursed through his tiny limbs. This infant might be weak in form, but his mind was strong and burning with purpose.
"I'm coming," he promised quietly, voice unheard but clear in his mind.
—
Outside, night bled over the ruined cityscape. Tall buildings fractured by dimensional tears flickered like dying stars. The cosmic chess game continued unseen, pieces shifting with cruel precision.
But somewhere in the shadows, a new player had just entered the board—a player unlike any before.
Someone who could change the game entirely.
—
Yoo allowed himself a brief moment to sink into the quiet of Extras World—warmth and silence folding him like a protective shell. But it would not last.
His awareness stretched towards his budding skills, new powers itching to be explored.
Melt, Bind, Energy Sense, Special Eyes, Extras World—their names felt like parts of his soul's new song.
He experimented, sending out a thread of bind into the empty dimension, watching it ripple like silk. Then, a pulse of energy, sensing the faintest tremor just beyond his sanctuary's veil.
The outside world was dying. Monsters prowled, hunters screamed, and humanity's fate was tipping into the abyss.
But Yoo Seung-yoon was coming alive.
And he wasn't just going to survive.
He was going to rewrite the rules.
—
Hours passed as Yoo's mind wove through knowledge and potential, his skills unfolding like the petals of a cosmic flower. Emotion rippled — fear, curiosity, determination.
Akasha's voice whispered comfort, logic, warnings.
"We will evolve as the world demands. Your consciousness is the key."
Even as his body grew, fragile and small, the spirit inside surged, hungry for mastery and for the moment he would face the outside.
Because the cosmic game was no longer a distant, abstract battle.
It was his life.
His playground.
His war.