Ethan woke up on cold asphalt. For a second, he thought he was still dying, but strangely, his senses were fine. Even his blood puddle had disappeared.
A crosswalk stretched beneath him.
The same one.
…Right.
This was where his life ended. Middle of the street, headlights screaming toward him, a kid crying, his bones turning into static.
So why was he breathing?
Ethan pushed himself upright, hands slipping on the cracked pavement. The street around him sat frozen in a strange stillness. Same convenience store. Same dented vending machine he used to hit when snacks got stuck.
Except…it was different.
It was… empty.
Empty in the literal sense. There were no cars parked along the curb, no distinct city sounds, and no pedestrians anywhere in sight
Ethan swallowed and started walking.
The storefronts he passed were dark, but not the normal kind of dark. Like their lights were snuffed out all at once, like a 'closed forever' type of dark.
One of the overhead lamps flickered as he passed beneath it, like it was barely holding onto the light it had once radiated.
Ethan rounded a corner, and the first thing he noticed was the grey mist.
When he woke, it had been thin—barely there, like early morning dew. But now it had thickened into a smoky gray that clung to the pavement like spilled ink. It curled around his ankles, climbed the lampposts, and seemed to rise higher with every block he'd passed.
Ethan blinked hard.
"…No way."
His voice sounded muffled, like the fog swallowed the sound before it went anywhere.
He had the sudden, stupid hope that this was a dream.
It didn't feel like one.
Then something hit him. Not from the outside, but inside. A twisting, bone-deep hunger tore through his stomach—not the kind from skipping dinner, he was used to that. This felt like something hollowing him out with a spoon.
Something was wrong with this place.
Wrong with him.
Ethan rubbed the side of his head, trying to steady his breathing.
"Great. Either I'm dead, dying, or hallucinating. Love that for me."
After walking a while, he realized that something had been jingling in his pockets. He reached inside and pulled it out.
A small crumpled slip of paper sat in his palm. The ink was hastily written in stark black, as if a warning.
Ethan's throat tightened.
He read:
"Something went wrong. You must survive. Open your Ledger."
-T
Right.
There had been a contract. But he didn't remember accepting anything. The memory blurred in his head as the hunger filled it instead.
"Open my Ledger…?" he muttered.
Then, something shimmered in the air in front of him. A pane of light unfolded with a soft hum. It wasn't real or fake…like somewhere in between.
[DEATH LEDGER - PROXY INTERFACE]
Proxy: Ethan ???
Reaper: Thanatos
Vital Status: Delayed
Soul Count: 0
Traits: [Soothing Aura]
Skills: [Mist Step]
Mortis: [Not Available]
"NO WAY. I have a system?! I actually—Thanatos gave me a SYSTEM?!"
For a moment, the hunger, the cold, the fog, the dying-in-the-middle-of-the-road trauma, everything just evaporated under the blinding joy of a terminally online webnovel reader.
"[Mist Step]. [Soothing Aura]. Okay. Cool. Nice. These sound useful. Very starter-kit. Very tutorial-section friendly."
Then he took a deep breath and calmed down. The situation was very much confusing and potentially dire.
"Focus. Webnovel readers always die when they panic. I just have to read the skills. Learn the mechanics. Simple."
He inhaled, steadying himself, and looked again.
"…Right. Skills. Show me what you do."
[Mist Step]
Short-range displacement in misty terrain.
Ethan nodded slowly.
"A dodge button. Very good. Love dodge buttons."
Then the second:
[Soothing Aura]
Dampens presence and reduces detection radius.
He frowned.
"…This one sounds like a stealth trait. Hmmm, I guess no skills are useless after all."
He lowered his hand and let out a long, shaky exhale.
"You know what? I'll take it. Two starter skills? Not bad. Could've been worse. Could've been one of those systems that only unlocks skills when you almost die."
He laughed weakly.
"…Heh. That would suck."
The fog behind him shifted.
Ethan's laugh died in his throat.
A soft tap echoed from somewhere behind him.
He went still, every nerve drawn tight. His breath caught halfway in his chest.
Slowly, as if turning too quickly might draw attention, Ethan looked over his shoulder.
Something stood at the end of the crosswalk.
It was tall, painfully so. Its silhouette stretched thin beneath the flickering streetlight. Limbs dangled from it like lengths of pale rope, some dragging along the asphalt, others swaying with a slow, disjointed rhythm. Its body twitched in irregular, jolting motions, as though it didn't quite understand how to stand with so many limbs.
Ethan wiped his eye, not sure if his mind had been playing tricks on him.
When he looked again—
The crosswalk was empty.
He sighed softly, relief going along with it until…
A sharp crack sounded behind him.
Ethan froze.
Another sound followed—wet, like a limb snapping back into place. Breath brushed the back of his neck.
His skin crawled. Slowly, he turned back to look at the visage.
Ethan's heart nearly stopped. The monster was face-to-face with him. Its many arms snapped outward like the opening of a monstrous flower, reaching for him.
"...mY…SOn…dOn'T gO.."
Its voice came out distorted and harsh, like its throat had been gouged out.
Ethan buckled, there was only one way he could get out of this.
Please work. Please work. Please—
His eyes locked on the glowing text hovering at the edge of his vision.
[Mist Step]
The convenience store door was three steps away.
If he ran for it, the monster would catch him halfway. If he hesitated…only death would await.
Ethan did the only thing he could.
He prayed to a UI.
He stared at the convenience store door, squeezed his eyes shut, and begged every story he had ever read to finally not be lying to him:
"Activate. Activate. Please—activate—MIST STEP—!"
The monster's fingers barely brushed his shirt as the world ripped sideways.
A sudden THWOOP, echoed through the air as Ethan appeared behind the counter of the convenience store. He felt a suffocating compression, like being squeezed through a gap too small for his body.
Ethan gasped, dizzy. The store around him flickered under weak emergency lights, shelves half-collapsed, floor scattered with snacks and broken glass.
He remembered, stupidly, how he used to turn off horror movies the moment a ghost appeared. He remembered hiding behind his knees during school lockdown drills, shaking even when it was just a test. He remembered the cold pit in his stomach when he found a dead rat behind the storage container he slept in.
However, none of that could prepare him for this moment.
Ethan risked a slow inhale and tried to think. He needed a plan.
He couldn't stay in the store forever. Even if the store had food, he couldn't last long in here. Plus, Ethan felt that, even if he ate everything, the hunger would still gnaw.
Though a choice didn't need to be made as the monster entered, breaking through the glass door. The convenience store bell's 'ding!' made the realization even worse.
Ethan clamped his mouth with his hand, scared that even breathing would alert the monster.
A low, dragging sound crawled into the hallway. Even if he didn't see it directly, he could imagine what it was doing. Its countless arms moved around the glass shards, knocking over shelves, trying to find him.
Then he saw his way out. A small door that led to the back of the store. Problem was, he didn't know whether it was locked or not.
And it wasn't a risk that was easy to make.
Then, three of its many limbs reached across the counter, twitching and reaching everywhere, the lack of eyes supplemented by touch.
The arms scraped along the counter's surface, fingertips brushing blindly over spilled snacks and broken wrappers. One limb shuddered, tapping the register like it remembered what money was. Another dragged along the tile, knuckles scraping in rhythm with Ethan's heartbeat.
Ethan pressed himself flatter against the wall, forcing his breath to shrink to thin, quiet threads. His eyes flicked back to the door.
Decision time.
If the door was unlocked, he lived another ten seconds. If it wasn't, the sound of him yanking it would be loud enough to summon the thing instantly.
He didn't get the chance to try it.
A sharp crack split the air, cutting through the fog like bright metal slicing fruit. The creature jerked violently mid-lunge, its torso folding backward as something struck it from behind.
Four silhouettes stepped through the broken storefront window. They all wore dark jackets, engraved with a certain name.
The Department of Supernatural Affairs.
One of them, a woman wearing glasses, crouched beside the squirming limb, inspecting the damage.
At first, Ethan felt a flicker of relief. People. Actual people.
He stepped out slowly, hands raised.
"H-Hey," he whispered. "I—I don't know what's going on. I just—"
The nearest stranger's head snapped toward him so fast Ethan flinched.
Another figure cursed under their breath.
"We've got a stray? How the hell did a civilian get into the Other Side?!"
Ethan froze.
Civilian?
Other Side?
What were they talking about?
"I—I'm not— I just woke up here, I swear—"
Before the situation went on any further, the monster moved.
A single, crisp crack, like bone snapping under a boot. A fist-sized hole burst open through the center of her chest.
She crumpled instantly, glasses clattering at Ethan's feet.
Fog surged inward like something inhaling.
The remaining strangers spun, eyes alert, shouting over each other.
All while Ethan stared in horror…of what just happened.