The pre-dawn gloom still clung to the kitchen, a hushed blue-grey, but Rion already stood sentinel. His hair, a disheveled brown cloud, defied gravity. Tiny dragon cartoons, vibrant against the faded blue of his boxer shorts, marched across his thighs. He clutched a mug, its ceramic proclaiming "World's Okayest Son" in chipped gold letters, and a wisp of instant coffee steam curled past his nose. His gaze, however, remained fixed on the wall. There, framed in polished obsidian, his parents' wedding photo commanded attention.
His mother, Yurina, a vision of power in polished silver armor, smiled. Her teeth, impossibly white, gleamed, and her eyes held the serene confidence of one who knew all outcomes before they unfolded. Beside her, his father, Min Jae, stood tall, a cloak of midnight blue rippling around him. His eyes, deep pools of sapphire, seemed to hold entire sagas, ancient and untold. Rion took a slow, deliberate sip.
"There's… no way I'm biologically related to these people." The words, a low rumble, barely disturbed the quiet. He squinted at the photo, leaning closer.
"Mom's jawline: sharp, carved from destiny. Dad's aura: radiant, a sun trapped in human form. Me?" He gestured vaguely at his own reflection in the glass, a pale, gangly figure with perpetually tired eyes.
"I look like a background NPC in my own life."
The fridge, a sleek, humming monolith, emitted a soft, electronic *beep*. A voice, smooth as polished steel, sliced through the air from just behind him.
"You talking to the wedding picture again?" Rion flinched, sloshing coffee. Rin, his older brother, stood framed in the doorway, a figure of impossible perfection.
His knight uniform, a pristine white, seemed to shimmer with an inner light, though no obvious source existed. He'd just returned from his morning drills, smelling faintly of ozone and victory.
"No," Rion lied, his voice a little too high. Rin's brow, a perfect arch, rose.
"You sure? Because you did the same thing yesterday. And the day before that."
"It's called self-reflection, Rin. A profound internal journey."
"You're talking to inanimate objects, Rion." Rion took another gulp of coffee.
"It listens better than you do." Breakfast at the Kwak household was less a meal and more a choreographed national event.
Min Jae, still impossibly handsome even in his casual robes, stood at the stove. His hands, usually wielding ancient relics, now conjured perfect sunny-side eggs. Tiny, controlled mana flames danced beneath the pan, cooking the yolks to a precise, molten gold.
Yurina sat at the head of the long oak table, a scroll of the morning paper unfurled before her. Her finger, tipped with a faint, silver glow, occasionally traced a line of text, correcting a flawed magical formula printed in the headlines.
From the other end of the table, a soft *thump* and a high-pitched giggle announced the arrival of the twins. Haru and Hana, identical in their mischievous grins, levitated pancakes, golden discs spinning slowly above their heads.
"Mine's bigger!" Haru declared.
"No, mine!" Hana countered, her small hand reaching out. A shimmering, syrupy stream, conjured from thin air, arced from her fingertips, drizzling perfectly onto her airborne pancake.
Haru gasped, then concentrated, a similar amber ribbon manifesting from his own hand. Rin, fresh from knight training, strode in, his polished greatsword clanking softly as he tossed it with practiced ease onto a nearby rack. The metal rang, a clear, resonant tone.
"Morning, everyone!" His voice boomed, full of vigor. Rion stumbled in behind him, a pale shadow. A cavernous yawn stretched his jaw.
"Morning, disappointment of the household reporting in." Min Jae, without looking up from his mana-fired eggs, hummed.
"Son, we've talked about positive affirmations."
"Right." Rion slumped into his chair.
"I'm barely disappointing. Better?"
"Progress," Yurina murmured, her eyes still scanning the newsprint. She took a delicate sip of her tea, its steam swirling with faint, iridescent motes. Hana giggled, a bright, bell-like sound.
"Big bro Rion, you're just special in other ways!" Rion braced himself.
"Yeah?"
"Like how you can sleep standing up!"
"...That's not comforting, Hana." Rion's current job title, a source of quiet, internal torment,
read: "Assistant to the Assistant Researcher at the Institute of Mana Behavioral Studies."
In practice, this meant a few things. He fetched coffee for geniuses, steaming mugs delivered with a deferential nod. He held the clipboard, its weight a constant reminder of his peripheral role. And sometimes, he pressed buttons he didn't understand, hoping for the best. Worst of all, everyone at the lab adored his older brother, Rin.
Rin's heroic visage graced all the "Heroic Bloodline" posters plastered around town, his smile a beacon of valor. One time, a chipper coworker, a young woman with perpetually wide, excited eyes, had cornered Rion by the mana-stabilization chamber.
"You're Rin's brother?!" she'd gushed, her voice a little too loud. "Wow, it must be so inspiring working under his legacy!" Rion had smiled, a rictus of polite agony.
"Yeah. Super inspiring. Every. Single. Day." The words tasted like ash. That night, Rion walked home beneath the glowing branches of the Baby Trees. Their luminescent leaves cast soft, shifting patterns on the cobblestones, bathing the street in a gentle, emerald light. The air shimmered faintly, peaceful and quiet, a stark contrast to the churning anxieties in his gut. He sighed, the sound escaping as a puff of visible breath in the cool night air.
"Mom's a hero. Dad's a legend. My siblings are borderline demigods. And me?" He scuffed his worn boot against the pavement.
"My greatest accomplishment this week was not microwaving metal." He spotted a small, smooth pebble. With a grunt of frustration, he kicked it. The pebble shot forward, ricocheted off a lamppost with a sharp *clink*, and then, with an improbable arc, struck a floating mana crystal. The crystal, a fist-sized orb of pure, pulsating energy, wobbled precariously. It blinked twice, a faint, internal light flickering. A low, resonant hum vibrated in the air.
`ERROR: Activation Trigger Detected`
`New System Awakening Detected — User: Kwak Rion`
`Initializing...`
Rion froze, his coffee mug still clutched in his hand. The hum grew, a low thrumming that seemed to resonate in his bones.
"...No way." He blinked. A faint, glowing panel, translucent and shimmering, flickered into existence directly in front of him, hovering in mid-air. Its ethereal light cast his face in a ghostly blue.
`SYSTEM ONLINE. WELCOME, USER.`
`Class Assigned: ???`
`Skill: "Procrastination Resonance" — Converts laziness into passive mana regeneration.`
Rion stared blankly at the floating text, his mouth slightly agape. A beat of silence stretched, punctuated only by the distant chirping of night-mana-crickets.
"...I finally awaken." He raised a skeptical brow.
"And my power is laziness?" Somewhere, in the vast, cosmic distance, the Observer, a being of unimaginable power and infinite patience, choked on his celestial tea, a booming, guttural laugh echoing through the void. Later that night, Rion burst through the front door, panting, the words tumbling out in a breathless rush.
"Mom! Dad! I finally awakened!" The entire family, gathered in the living room, turned in unison. Their expressions, usually serene, now held a mixture of surprise and anticipation. Rin, ever the first to respond, pushed off the sofa.
"Congratulations! What's your class?"
"Uh… Unknown?" Rion admitted, running a hand through his already messy hair. Haru, ever pragmatic, bounced on his toes.
"Your skill?"
"Procrastination Resonance," Rion mumbled, half-expecting ridicule. Hana, however, clapped her hands, her eyes wide with curiosity.
"So… doing nothing makes you stronger?"
"Exactly!" Rion exclaimed, a strange thrill running through him. Min Jae, a slow smile spreading across his face, rose from his armchair.
"Son, I'm so proud." Yurina, however, merely looked up from her teacup, her expression unreadable.
"Finally, someone inherited my work ethic." Everyone, including Rion, stared at her. She looked back, a faint, knowing smirk playing on her lips.
"What? I worked very hard to appear calm and lazy." Later still, Rion stood by the wedding photo again. The system panel, now a soft, unobtrusive glow, flickered faintly above his head, still trying to calibrate, its ethereal code scrolling silently. He stared at his parents' radiant smiles, then at his own reflection in the glass, a faint, almost imperceptible grin now tugging at his lips.
"Okay," he muttered, the words a low confession.
"Maybe I'm not adopted. Maybe I'm just… the next evolutionary step in doing absolutely nothing and still winning." He lifted his "World's Okayest Son" mug, the ceramic clinking softly against the glass of the framed photo.
"Cheers, overachievers." The system pinged softly, a chime like distant bells.
`Daily Quest: Continue Being Average — Reward: 1 XP`
`You have completed your first mission.`
Rion's grin widened, a genuine, unburdened smile. "Finally, a system that gets me."