> [Welcome to the world of Erebos Online, Player]
The chime didn't come from his headset.
It rang inside his skull.
Kai woke on stone so cold it burned.
Naked.
His body—lean, hard, wrong—shivered beneath a ceiling of black glass and drifting ash.
He sat up. His breath fogged in the air.
Where am I?
Last memory:
Midnight. 4th and Mercer.
The clerk sliding the Erebos Online box across the counter.
"Last copy. Good luck."
Then the crosswalk.
Then the truck.
He looked down.
No blood. No bruises. Only skin.
And in the ash at his feet—
The disc.
Still in its cracked case.
Still spinning.
Kai reached for it. The plastic was warm.
A flash—headlights, metal, the sound of glass breaking—then gone.
Another chime.
> [Quest: Equip Outfit from Inventory]
He froze.
Inventory?
He'd never played Erebos.
Watched the streams. Read the wikis. Saved for the Director's Cut.
But he'd never booted it.
"Inventory," he whispered.
A pane flickered into existence—thin light hanging in the air.
One slot.
[Starter Tunic – Common]
He reached out. The fabric was coarse, heavy with dust. Real.
He pulled it on; it fit like something tailored for him alone.
The pane blinked once and dissolved.
The quest marker pulsed green, then faded away.
Kai stood.
The cathedral loomed in silence.
He didn't know the layout. Didn't know the enemies.
Didn't even know the controls.
But something in the dark did.
A low scrape—metal against stone—crept closer.
Kai knew that in games like this, everything depended on how you played.
And Kai was different.
He'd watched every stream, memorized every frame.
But no one ever showed the smell of goblin breath.
He moved toward the sound.
A low-rank goblin, Level 10.
Too big for its tier—green hide stretched taut over muscle and fat.
It sniffed the air.
Saw him.
Kai didn't hesitate.
"Inventory," he whispered again.
The pane appeared.
[Rusted Shortsword]
Durability: 12/30
He pulled it free. The weight was real—cold, sticky, uncomfortably alive.
The goblin lunged.
Kai twisted left—too slow.
The club clipped his shoulder. Pain exploded, bright and clean.
He gasped, staggered, and before fear could take root, instinct took over.
He drove the sword forward.
The blade sank into the goblin's side.
Health: 120 → 100
"Not bad for a rusted shortsword," he muttered.
The goblin roared.
The sound cracked the air.
Monsters in the distance fled into the dark.
It charged a dead tree.
Shoulder-slammed it.
CRACK.
Splinters burst like shrapnel.
Kai's legs moved before thought caught up—
inhuman speed.
The rusted blade flashed.
The goblin's head snapped free.
Eyes wide. Mouth still frozen mid-roar.
It hit the ground.
No blood. Just a dull, final thud.
A pane slammed into his vision.
100 → 0 (Critical Hit)
[Rusted Shortsword — Durability: 12 → 5 / 30]
Warmth surged through his body—like winning. Like leveling up.
> [System Notification]
[You have slain Low-Rank Goblin (Lv.10)]
[EXP: +250]
[Level Up! 1 → 2]
[Coins: 100 Received]
Another pane flickered:
KAI_LOOP.v.1
LV: 2
HP: 120/120
STR: 10 → 11
AGI: 10 → 11
The warmth ebbed.
The light faded from the goblin's eyes—
but they kept blinking.
Empty. Searching.
Kai's smirk died.
For the first time, it occurred to him:
the game might not be playing him.
[END OF CHAPTER 2]