A dozen people were running for their lives through the ruins of a broken city.
Cracked buildings loomed like skeletons in the mist. Fires flickered in the distance. Fear echoed in every footstep.
Suddenly, a roar tore through the air-loud, ancient, monstrous.
They turned-and screamed.
A giant Quetzalcoatlus, wings wide as a house, dived through the air like a nightmare brought to life.
Its eyes locked on them like prey. Death itself was flying.
But ahead of the crowd stood a single teenage boy.
Alone.
He didn't run. Didn't flinch. Just stood in the middle of the broken street-staring at the creature with dead, emotionless eyes.
His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. Blood dripped from his hand, which he slowly wrapped
with a white cloth-turning it red instantly.
From his body rose a faint, flickering green aura, glowing like ghostfire.
Then he turned, just slightly, his green eyes shining in the dark.
"You're not strong enough," he whispered.
And then-
The boy woke up.
Gasping.
Drenched in sweat, heart pounding, his eyes darted around. He was in his messy bedroom. His phone lay beside him, still playing The Eminence in Shadow on low volume.
A bag of empty chips sat crumpled beside a half-drunk cola on the bed. Crumbs on his pillow.
Crumpled uniform in a corner.
He sighed.
His thumb automatically reached for the screen, unlocking it.
Social media greeted him-stories, posts, reels.
Classmates smiling on football fields. Going to concerts. Sharing meals. Dancing at weddings.
Holding hands with people they loved.
He had never posted a single thing.
He had nothing to share.
Nothing worth remembering.
The clock said 3:00 AM.
He stood up, barefoot, and walked to the bathroom. The mirror glared back at him.
There he was-a 15-year-old boy, 5'5" tall, 95 kilograms.
His face was bloated and pale. Dark circles under his eyes. Whiteheads, pimples, and dandruff
clung to his skin and hair like shame.
He stared at his reflection. At the cracks in himself.
"Why am I like this...?"
"Is this why I have no friends?"
Suddenly, silence.
A different place.
He stood in a white void, endless and pure. There was nothing here-no floor, no ceiling.Just whiteness.
And in that stillness stood a white silhouette, far ahead of him. Faceless. Silent. Watching.
It said nothing. But its presence pressed down on him like weight.
A quiet voice echoed in his soul:
"If you had everything... would you still be kind?"
"Would you still walk with manners, if you were tall, handsome, strong?"
"Or would you become like the rest?"
There was no reply.
But the boy felt it.
Someone was watching him. Always had been.
Someone who didn't speak, but judged. Someone who saw everything-from actions to thoughts.
A God.
Not cruel. Not distant.
Just... waiting.
Watching.
Measuring.
To one day bless the righteous.
And curse the wicked.
The boy lowered his head in shame.
"What am I?"
"Not a sinner. But not a saint either."
"Just invisible."
Back in the mirror, his eyes filled with disgust.
He remembered school.
Teachers praising him. "Top five in the class." "Best in English." Always scoring high.
But no one sat beside him. No one talked to him. No one invited him anywhere.
Not hated. Just ignored.
At home, it was the same.
His mother praised him sometimes. His father worked abroad. His mother, a government employee,
was never home. His two elder brothers had their own lives.
They asked about his day. That's all.
He was supported-but never seen.
He never went outside. Never played sports. Never learned to cook. Couldn't swim, couldn't ride abicycle, couldn't drive, couldn't dance, couldn't fight.
No hobbies. No talents. No stories.
Just silence.
"I don't sin..."
"But I don't do good either."
"Maybe I never had the chance to sin."
"If I did... would I have sinned too?"
His hands clenched.
"I hate this version of me."
"I hate this body, this life."
He thought of Saitama. Of Sung Jin-Woo. Of Shadow.
They all started from nothing.
Could he really become like them?
"It's not about if I can."
"It's about that I will."
He looked up at the mirror.
Eyes burning.
"Starting today..."
"I train. I change. I rise."
"I've lived like a ghost in the shadows for too long."
"Now-I want to live."
"I want to be seen."
"I will become someone."
"I will no longer hide."
Thus began my journey.