Kai opened his eyes, immediately regretting it.
His head was spinning. Everything was dark. Not the kind of darkness that came from closing your eyes, but something heavier… like the world itself was trying to forget him.
He was lying on cold stone — rough, damp, and unfamiliar.
"…What the hell…"
Groaning, Kai pushed himself up, swaying as he got to his feet. He rubbed his forehead, then blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the dim light.
There were torches. Lots of them. Lined up high on towering walls that stretched endlessly to his left and right. But despite the number of flames, they barely illuminated anything. Just a flickering haze of yellow that danced and died in the air around him.
Still, it was better than nothing.
"Well… bright side. At least there's a path."
He muttered it more to himself than anyone else — assuming anyone else was even here.
Then he noticed it.
The words. Floating in front of him like a projection burned into the back of his eyes.
[Death has chosen you, Kaizen.]
[You are his Outrider now.]
[Death has engraved you…]
[Wherever you go, the scent of Death will linger upon you…]
[You have been promoted from mere mortal to Flicker.]
Kai stared at the glowing letters for a second.
"…Flicker? What the hell is that?"
As if in response, more words appeared.
[The first sign of power — a spark within the soul, barely seen, easily lost. Most Flickers die before they ever flare.]
"Damn...that's uplifting..."
Another message blinked into view.
[Death bestows upon you some blessings…]
[Speak 'Stats' to reveal your status.]
Kai blinked at the glowing words hovering in front of him.
A system. A real one.
Somewhere deep inside his foggy, post-death brain… something clicked.
He knew what this was.
Years of anime, manhwa, and questionable fanfics had prepared him for this moment. It was his turn now. His own personal cheat code. His boon. His meat and potatoes.
A strange warmth spread through his chest — not the emotional kind. More like the unhinged joy of a teenager who'd just been handed the script to his own power fantasy.
Kai had officially contracted that ancient, incurable disease known only to a select few.
Chuunibyou.
Middle School Second Year Syndrome.
The certified cringe of youth.
Back when he wasn't peddling pharmaceutical sins behind the school, he'd been a certified ninja from the Hidden Leaf. A backup Soul King. The secret love child of Whitebeard and Mihawk. The next Pirate king.
So yeah. This? This was divine validation.
Kai slowly lifted a hand and covered half his face with it, eyes gleaming behind splayed fingers.
Then he laughed.
Low at first… then louder. Madder. More unhinged.
"Hu hu hu… Look who's gonna be the baddest, the biggest—uh—whatever-the-hell runs this world, Ken? It's gonna be me."
Yep.
A full-blown chuuni episode.
Even death couldn't stop it.
After basking in the glorious mental image of himself becoming the world's most overpowered dark overlord, Kai took a deep breath and got a grip.
Okay. Cool it, edgelord. Focus.
He looked around. Still the same dim corridor, still the same endless rows of torches casting twitchy yellow light across stone walls. Still the same unsettling silence.
And then, another message flashed across his mind:
[You have entered the Halls of the Selfless Heroes!]
[Find the exit to complete the trial.]
[Your trial has begun, Flicker.]
Kai scratched the back of his head, still sore from... well, everything.
"Halls of the Selfless Heroes? What kind of fantasy novel name is that…?"
He looked around again — torches high up on the walls, the flickering light barely enough to cast shadows. Endless corridors stretched left and right, as if daring him to get lost forever.
"Great. A maze. With a title."
It also didn't help that the psycho cosplaying as Gojo Satoru — who, oh yeah, turned out to be Death itself — had conveniently forgotten to mention this whole trial business.
All he'd said was:
"There's something I want in that world. Get it for me, and I'll grant your wish."
And that wish…
Kai's fists clenched.
His family.
He shook his head, hard. No time for that. Not now.
One thing at a time. Trial first. Heartbreak later.
"A second chance in life…"
He stared down the endless corridor, swallowed his fear, and took the first step.
"…I should probably try not to screw it up this time."
Almost immediately, he heard something.
A giggle.
No—two, maybe three? Snickers, somewhere off to his right.
Kai froze.
His head snapped in that direction, eyes straining against the weak, flickering light.
Nothing.
Just more endless corridor. Same torches, same shadows, same eerie silence.
His breathing started to quicken.
Until now, it hadn't really hit him. The full picture. The stupid part.
Even for a card-carrying Chuuni like him, this was a rookie mistake.
In all those animes and manhwas, the heroes never fought people. Not in the beginning. No, they fought monsters. Spirits. Beasts with twelve arms and a hobby for screaming in the dark.
Where there's magic, there's monsters. Rule number one.
And right now, in this godforsaken torch-lit castle, Kai had to face the very real possibility he was not alone.
Kai took a step back. His heel knocked into something. A small clatter echoed out behind him, sharp in the silence. He jumped and spun around, eyes wide.
There was an object on the ground. And above it, a soft flicker of text appeared in the air:
[Inspect?]
But before he could read more, another shriek rang out — this one closer. High, jagged, and way too real.
It wasn't his imagination.
Something was here.
Another wave of giggles started.
But this time, it was worse.
Not human. Not even trying to sound human. Like someone shoved a bunch of monsters in a kindergarten and told them to act like children. Distorted, twitchy laughter. Full of teeth.
Kai gulped.
"Nope. Not liking this. Not liking this at all."
Then he saw them.
Three pairs of red eyes lit up at the far end of the hall. Just floating there in the dark. Cold. Staring. Like they'd been watching him the whole time.
And then they moved.
Fast.
Way too fast.
The eyes surged forward, and the giggles turned into something else—sharp, gurgling sounds, like knives playing tag with lungs.
Kai's heart slammed into his ribs.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
He didn't wait to ask questions.
He grabbed whatever that thing was behind him—it had a handle, good enough—and ran. Bolted like a man late for his own funeral.
No idea what he'd picked up. Could've been a shovel, could've been a cursed stick. Didn't matter. What mattered was away. Now.
"I've read this scene before!" he gasped. "I know how this ends!"
"Khhhaaaa!"
The shriek behind him nearly cracked his spine in half.
Then came the footsteps.
Too many. Too fast. Too wrong.
Kai didn't dare look back. He just ran, zero hesitation, toward the only thing ahead of him that looked like it might be an exit—a door, barely visible in the torchlight, waiting at the end of the hall like the last stop on a bad dream.
Then—
Whoosh!
Something whistled through the air.
Every hair on Kai's neck stood up. His body moved before his brain caught up—he jerked left—
THWACK!
A wooden spear—splintered, crude, and sharp enough to ruin anyone's day—buried itself in the stone wall where his head had just been.
Kai didn't slow down.
He wasn't about to find out what came next.
"Shit! Shit! Shit!"
Another round of distorted laughter echoed behind him—giddy, gleeful, like someone was enjoying this.
He didn't need to look back. He knew those freaks were having the time of their lives hunting him.
Without thinking, he broke into a frantic zig-zag. Instinct screamed: keep moving or die.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two more spears shot past—one close enough to tickle his ear.
The door was near now. Just a few more steps.
Then he saw it—one of the spears, lodged in the ground ahead. Intact. Reachable.
Kai didn't think.
He lunged and grabbed it.
"GRAAAH!! SHOONO! SHOONO!!"
A guttural shriek exploded behind him—loud, pissed, and very much sounding like something had just caught him peeing in its cereal.
'Must be cussing me out. Ugly little gremlins.'
Kai didn't slow. He had eyes only for the massive double doors ahead.
With zero hesitation, he threw his shoulder into them—
BANG!
The doors creaked open, but not before absolutely mangling his shoulder in the process.
"Ughhh…"
He staggered forward, clutching his throbbing shoulder, contents from his hands clattering to the ground.
"GRAHHH!!"
"ROOOAAARR!!"
"KRRRRAAAAA!!"
The screeches only got louder as Kai collapsed to the ground, lungs on fire, whole body screaming.
No time to rest.
He scrambled back up and yanked the heavy doors shut—one, then the other—gritting his teeth against the pain.
Just before the last one closed, though, curiosity stabbed him.
He peeked.
Instant regret.
Three sets of glowing red eyes stared back at him—belonging to hunched, green-skinned horrors that looked like someone crossed a sewer rat with a caffeine addict and gave it a murder complex.
Above their heads, flickering boxes confirmed the worst:
[Goblin]
[Rank: PaleBorn]