Chapter 1: Awakening
"Huh…"
White.
Everything around me is white — no, not just white — empty. A blinding, endless void that stretches beyond sight. There's no horizon, no ground, no sound. Just me… and nothing.
One moment, I was sitting in my room, struggling to stay awake over my notes. Exams, deadlines, life — all of it weighing on me like usual. And now… this?
Am I standing? Floating? Existing? I can't even tell.
Then—
{Ding!}
A sharp chime rings right next to my ear. I flinch instinctively and spin around. What greets me isn't a person, but a glowing, translucent screen — a system panel straight out of a video game.
A panel? A system?
My brain scrambles for logic. "Wait… is this— am I getting reincarnated right now?"
That thought alone should've sent me into a panic — I should be screaming, freaking out, doing something. But instead, I just stand there, oddly calm. Too calm. It's like the void itself is numbing my emotions, swallowing every ounce of fear before it can form.
"Okay… okay, deep breaths," I mutter, trying to ground myself — though I can't even tell if there's air here to breathe.
The glowing text on the panel flickers, and then stabilizes:
> [Hello! Congratulations. You have been granted a new life through transmigration as a character chosen by the Wheel of Destiny.]
"Wheel of wha—"
Before I can even finish, the void trembles. A massive wheel materializes beside me, spinning lazily in midair like a cosmic roulette. It's enormous — easily the size of a skyscraper — and divided into countless sections, each one glowing with a name.
Millions of names.
Curiosity takes over as I squint, trying to make out a few of them.
"Luffy… Thomas Shelby… Robert Stark… Cj…"
The more I read, the faster my heartbeat gets — if I even have one here. These are all fictional characters. Heroes, villains, icons. The wheel doesn't discriminate; it's like the whole of fiction has been dumped into one divine lottery.
And somewhere in that infinite spin… my new life is waiting to be chosen.
The wheel began to spin.
At first, it moved lazily — a soft hum echoing through the endless white void. But then it picked up speed. Faster. Faster still. Until the names became nothing more than streaks of color, blurring into a whirlpool of fate.
I could feel my throat dry as I watched it go, powerless to stop it. Seconds stretched into minutes, or maybe hours — time didn't mean much here. When the wheel finally began to slow, my nerves kicked in again.
"Come on… come on…" I muttered under my breath, eyes tracking the pointer as it ticked across names I didn't recognize — until one caught my eye.
Guts.
My blood ran cold. "No. No no no, keep moving! Please!"
The wheel creaked, inching forward painfully slow. Then, mercifully, it slipped past Guts and settled on a name glowing faintly in golden light:
Ha Do-wan.
I exhaled so hard it sounded like laughter. My knees — if I even had any — gave out beneath me as I dropped to the invisible floor.
"I survived… haaa… haaa… god, I survived."
I didn't even care who that was — I just knew it wasn't Guts. And that was enough.
Before I could process anything else, another chime echoed beside me.
{Ding!}
A new panel materialized, lines of text appearing in front of my face.
> [Congratulations! You have been granted transmigration as the main character of the manhwa Reality Quest, known as Ha Do-wan.]
[However, unlike the original world, the version you're entering will not include the 'game system.' In exchange, you will receive a different set of abilities, to be determined by the Wheel of Destiny.]
"Wait, what—?"
Too late. The wheel spun again, whirring so fast it sent a gust rippling through the empty void.
This time, it didn't last long. After only a few seconds, it slowed, the pointer ticking across the names before coming to a stop.
[Result: The combined abilities of the Four Major Crew Leaders from Lookism.]
My eyes widened. "HOLD—"
Before the words could even leave my mouth, darkness swallowed me whole.
---
When I opened my eyes again, I wasn't in the void anymore.
A cluttered desk filled my vision — screens flashing with pixelated colors. Dozens of phones, all lined up in front of me, each one running a different mobile game. My fingers were resting on one of them, halfway through a combo.
A soft, cheerful voice called out from the side. "Thanks, Do-wan!"
I turned — a girl waved at me from the door, smiling before she left the room. My brain froze. I knew that face. I knew this scene.
"What the f—"
Pain exploded in my skull before the thought could finish.
"Argh—?!"
Memories that weren't mine poured in all at once — memories of another life, another body. His life. Ha Do-wan's. And layered beneath them, something else — new instincts, strange energy, the echoes of power that didn't belong here.
When the mental storm finally eased, I barely had time to breathe before reality hit — literally.
A heavy hand slammed the back of my head, smashing my face into the desk. Phones clattered to the floor like glass rain.
"Do-wan, you little shit. I told you to focus on my phone."
The voice was deep, mocking — venom wrapped in amusement.
I didn't need to look up to know who it was.
Cheolwoo.
The same bully who had tormented Ha Do-wan — the reason his miserable story even began.
I felt my collar tighten as he yanked me up, his sneer filling my vision.
And just like that, I realized… the story had already started.