Si Hon looked around.
Tower behind him.
Tent nearby, fire in front, food in the bag and water secured.
"…yeah," he muttered. "This'll do for now."
He sat down near the fire.
The Tower loomed above him, silent and unmoving.
But for now— atleast they were safe.
Si Hon sat there for a bit.
Fire crackling. Tower looming. Tent quiet.
Nothing attacking him, no screaming and no creature or anything demanding his life immediately.
That… felt wrong.
He poked the fire once with a stick, watching sparks jump and die.
"…now that I think about it," he muttered.
Hana was asleep. The System was quiet. The mountain was frozen outside the circle around the tower.
Si Hon frowned.
"…what am I even supposed to do now?"
There was no quests, no screaming warnings or monsters rushing him.
He sighed.
"…right."
He lifted his head slightly and spoke clearly.
"Status."
For half a second nothing happened.
Then—
The air in front of him rippled.
Then a golden frame unfolded into existence, hovering at eye level.
[STATUS
Name: Si Hon
Age: 22
Tendency: Careful Strategist
Job: Unemployed
Title: None (yet)
You need to try a little harder.]
Si Hon stared at that last line.
"…wow," he said flatly. "Rude."
The screen didn't respond.
Below the text, the space shifted again, forming a circular display. Lines extended outward, numbers settling into place.
────────────────────────
Strength: 10 (Common)
Agility: 11 (Common)
Stamina: 11 (Common)
Endurance: 12 (Common)
Luck: 21 (Rare)
Intelligence: 19 (Rare)
Mana: 0 (Common)
────────────────────────
Si Hon's eyes moved slowly from stat to stat.
"…huh."
He leaned forward slightly.
"Mana zero," he muttered. "Yeah, figures."
He tapped the air where Mana was displayed.
Nothing happened.
"…guess I'm not doing magic related anytime soon."
His gaze shifted back to Luck.
Twenty-one.
That one made him pause.
"…of course," he said quietly. "That explains… a lot."
The spatial bag.
The Safe Zone.
Still being alive.
He exhaled through his nose.
"Carried by luck," he muttered. "flowkirknichenuinely that's crazy."
At the bottom of the window, three faint buttons hovered.
[ Equipment ]
[ Growth Limit ]
[ Attribute ]
He stared at them.
"…growth limit sounds scary."
He didn't press anything yet.
Instead, he leaned back, eyes still on the status screen, firelight reflecting faintly off the golden lines.
Behind him, the Tower stood silent.
Inside the tent, Hana slept peacefully.
Food secured.
Water stored.
Fire burning.
Safe Zone active.
Si Hon nodded once to himself.
"…okay," he said quietly. "At least now I know where I'm starting from."
The System remained silent.
But the status window stayed open.
Waiting.
He sighed then.
"System… is there actually no quest for me?"
Then the Familiar Blue screen popped up beside the floating Golden frame.
[Oh… ]
────────────────────────
Main quest acquired: SURVIVE
Objective: Survive. (Remaining time> 3 months)
Reward: a key for you to open the way onto your real world.
────────────────────────
.
A pause… then—
"WHAT THE FUCK!? 3 months?"
Si Hon then pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Aigoo… still atleast I can return back."
.
[ACCEPT/DECLINE]
He pressed the accept button then another screen popped up beside it.
[OPTIONAL requirements to complete the quest faster: ???
Accept/decline < 3: .]
Si Hon stared at the floating options for a few more seconds.
Optional requirements: ???
"…yeah. Nope," he muttered. "Absolutely not touching that right now."
He waved the blue screen away.
The main STATUS window stayed.
Those three buttons still hovering.
[ Equipment ]
[ Growth Limit ]
[ Attribute ]
He stared at the Growth Limit again.
"…still sounds scary," he said.
Then sighed.
"But so does literally everything here."
He reached out and tapped it.
The golden frame shifted.
The circular stat display collapsed inward, lines folding like folding a paper.
A new window unfolded beneath the STATUS header.
[GROWTH LIMIT]
────────────────────────
Current Growth Rank: Restricted
Reason: Body not adapted to world environment
Insufficient combat experience
System authority partially locked
Mental resistance: unstable
Growth Cap Applied.
────────────────────────
Stat Growth Limit: Strength: 20
Agility: 20
Stamina: 20
Endurance: 20
Luck: ???
Intelligence: ???
Mana: Locked
────────────────────────
Si Hon blinked.
"…restricted."
He leaned closer.
"Hey," he said. "That sounds bad."
The System did not answer.
He scanned the rest.
Twenty.
Twenty.
Twenty.
Twenty.
"…so even if I grind," he muttered, "I hard stop at twenty."
His eyes moved down.
——
Luck: ???
Intelligence: ???
——
"…of course," he sighed. "The two weird ones don't have numbers."
Then—
[Mana: Locked]
He stared at that.
"…locked," he repeated quietly.
Not zero.
Locked.
That was worse.
He leaned back, letting the information sink in.
"So basically," he said to the empty air, "I'm capped, restricted, mentally unstable, and can't use magic."
The System stayed quiet.
"…cool," he muttered, "flowkirknicenuinelybabystateboo THATS CRAZY."
The fire crackled.
Then—
Soft movement beside him.
Fabric rustled.
Si Hon glanced to his side.
Hana had crawled out of the tent.
Her hair was messy, eyes half open, blanket dragging behind her like it was too big for her.
She shuffled over without saying anything and sat down beside him.
Close.
Really close.
Then she lifted the blanket and wrapped it around both of them.
The warmth doubled instantly.
Si Hon stiffened for half a second.
"…hey," he said quietly. "Why'd you come out?"
She leaned into his side.
"I feel lonely there," she mumbled.
Her head rested against his arm.
"…dad."
Her breathing slowed almost immediately.
She didn't even wait for an answer.
Just— settled.
Like this was normal.
Si Hon looked down at her.
"…you fall asleep fast," he muttered.
No response.
Out cold.
He sighed and carefully adjusted the blanket so it covered her better without smothering the fire heat.
The Growth Limit screen still hovered in front of him.
Restricted.
Capped.
Locked.
He stared at it for a long moment.
Then, quietly—
"…guess we'll figure it out," he said.
Si Hon didn't close the window.
He didn't poke at the System.
Didn't check his status.
Didn't even bother standing up.
He just sat there.
The fire crackled softly infront of him, its warmth pressing against his back. Behind him, the tower stood silent— still creepy.
Just silence.
The kind of silence that made it feel like the world itself was holding its breath.
Si Hon stared at the window for a long moment before finally speaking.
"…By the way," he said, voice low, almost lazy. "If I'm the only one who got rewound… why does it feel like everything rewound too?"
The blue screen flickered to life in front of him, its glow briefly washing the fire in place.
「Do you know what déjà vu is?」
Si Hon frowned slightly.
"The first one happened when I woke up in the tent last night," the System continued. 「Late at night.」
"No," Si Hon said slowly. "I mean— what about the Mun—" He paused, forgetting the word. "The monkeys. They were outside in the same positions."
The System responded without delay.
「There were eleven last night. In the original timeline, there were nine.」
Si Hon's eyes narrowed.
"What about the night cycle?" he pressed. "Your responses and my responses?"
The screen shifted, lines of text rearranging themselves.
「The day advanced at the exact moment you were rewound.」
「Your vocal responses were also rewound.」
「Your memory experienced a delay.」
Si Hon leaned back against the black GIRTHY massive tower. "So that's why it felt like everything was happening too fast," he muttered.
The System continued.
「As for my response— when I returned, the message was already being transmitted automatically. I was… surprised.」
The next line appeared a little slower than the others.
「That is why I said. "Didn't this happen before?"」
Si Hon went still.
"…Wait."
He lifted his head.
"You were surprised?"
The fire popped.
"Screen," Si Hon said carefully. "So… there's a person there?"
A brief pause.
Then—
[No.]
"I see, I see…"
Si Hon relaxed.
If there was no person behind it, then there was no intent.
If there was no intent, then there was no judgment.
Just rules.
Cold, mechanical rules.
And those were easier to deal with.
But yea, he is not a dumb kid, he knew that there is someone a person behind this System, a clumsy one, who doesn't even know how to do its job property.
"Well," he said, stretching his arms slightly, "guess that explains it."
The System didn't respond.
Outside the circle, something large shifted in the darkness— but didn't approach.
But he knows the MUNCHES were still there.
Waiting.
"Fine," Si Hon said, already losing interest. "So this is… day two? Or three?"
[Yes. Day 3.]
"Alright."
He leaned sideways, letting his body slump naturally, then after that he adjusted Hana, now in front of him, Si Hon hugged Hana behind and closed his eyes.
"Guess I'll sleep," he said. "Too tired. Too lazy to stand up and go back to the tent."
The fire continued to burn.
And he slept.
***
"Twirp, twirp, tweet, tweet" of course that was a Bird.