A hot wind drifted slowly across a vast desert filled with thousands of swords embedded in the ground, as if they were gravestones for a war that had ended long ago.
A gray sky hung low overhead. The clouds moved slowly, heavy, as though carrying memories they refused to let go of.
In the middle of that endless stretch of iron and sand, a white-haired man walked alone.
His steps were calm. Unhurried. Without hesitation.
In his hand, he held a simple sword—its blade dull, scarred with countless marks, yet giving off a strangely quiet presence.
His gaze was empty.
He looked up.
Staring at the clouds drifting slowly above his head.
For a brief moment, the world felt silent.
Then—
From behind the cloudy sky, **ancient metal cogwheels** began to fall.
Their shapes were strange, etched with intricate patterns, rusted by the passage of time. Each cogwheel did not crash into the ground, but instead **floated gently**, as if defying gravity itself.
The white-haired man merely watched them, his expression unchanged.
The next instant—
**DONG.**
A single, heavy chime echoed from the sky.
The sound rolled across the desert, passed through the swords planted in the ground, shook the air, and resonated far into the horizon.
...
I walked down the hallway of the house with slow steps.
The sound of an argument echoed from the living room—too familiar to make me stop. My mother's raised voice, my father's deep, angry replies. I didn't even need to listen carefully to know the reason.
Money.
I roughly rubbed my hair and kept walking. No curiosity. No desire to interfere. This was nothing more than a boring morning routine.
When I reached my room, I saw my younger sibling pacing back and forth awkwardly. The moment our eyes met, they froze.
"What are you pacing around for?" I asked flatly.
They looked nervous. "N-nothing. I was just checking… if I left something behind."
They hurried past me and went downstairs.
I stared at their back for a moment before entering my room.
We might be family, but there wasn't a single person in this house I felt close to. My parents—I hated them just for existing. And my sibling… I hated them even more.
They were stupid and troublesome. I was constantly told to teach them things they should've understood just by listening to their teachers at school.
Not to mention their shameless behavior.
One day, I bought food and stored it in the fridge. I had already warned them not to touch it because I was going to eat it after returning from prayer. But when I came back, the food was gone. There wasn't a trace of guilt on their face. And that kind of thing kept happening, again and again, along with countless other small things that slowly eroded my patience.
I changed my clothes and put on my school uniform. I opened the drawer and took my wallet along with a pack of cigarettes I had bought yesterday.
I left the house and walked toward school while smoking. My body felt heavy from lack of rest.
Every Monday to Friday, school ran from six in the morning until three in the afternoon. After that, I worked from five until nine at night. Then I studied until past midnight. I could only get proper rest on holidays.
'Luckily, payday's coming up. As long as the boss pays on time'
When the school gate came into view, I crushed the remaining lit cigarette in my hand and tossed it into a trash bin by the roadside.
The moment I stepped through the gate, my shoulders suddenly felt heavy.
"Yo, top student."
A young man with a messy uniform slung an arm over my shoulder. Several others stood behind him, watching me with mocking smiles.
"You look tired this morning," he said. "Got problems?"
"Ck." I frowned.
"What's with that attitude?" he snapped. "Feeling arrogant because you got first place again?"
I ignored him and walked toward the exam results board. Three large boards for each grade level. In the third-year section, my name once again sat at the very top.
First place.
"Three years in a row," he sneered. "How does it feel, huh?"
Honestly, I felt nothing. This ranking didn't mean everything, but it wasn't something I could ignore either. It was just one of the stepping stones I needed to change my life.
"Pretty good, I guess."
He looked irritated and was about to say something—
"Ding. The school assembly will begin shortly. All students, please gather on the field."
"Ck, you're lucky," he muttered before leaving with his group.
I let out a relieved breath and headed to my classroom. Today wasn't my department's turn to attend the assembly. With eight majors in each grade, the ceremony had to be divided because the field couldn't hold everyone.
I entered the classroom. As usual, there was no greeting.
Not that I wanted praise. It was just that every other student was always welcomed by their friends. Meanwhile, I never was.
I didn't have friends at this school. Not because I never tried to socialize, but because their topics were always about games or trending gossip. I didn't follow any of that, and eventually, I had no place in their conversations.
"All right, everyone," the teacher said. "You've probably already seen your exam results."
He turned toward me and smiled. "Shiro, congratulations. You've secured first place again."
Several students glanced at me with bored expressions.
"This is the first time in this school's history that a student has ranked first every single semester with perfect scores. I'm proud of you."
"As for the rest of you, I hope you evaluate your weaknesses from the previous exams to prepare for the national university entrance test coming up soon."
The classroom atmosphere grew tense. That upcoming exam would determine which university they would enter, shaping their futures.
After a brief guidance session, class began, with the teacher reviewing material from the past three years to prepare us for the exam ahead.
The break bell rang.
I left the classroom intending to go to the cafeteria, but in the hallway, I once again saw that guy with several others.
"Yo," he said. "I wanna talk."