Chapter 1: The Last Normal Day
Title: Null - The Choice That Broke the System
Blurb: When the world transformed into a game, everyone chose a Class to survive. He alone refused. Now, marked as "Null" in a system-obsessed world, Rocky Vance is about to discover that rejecting the rules was just the beginning of breaking them.
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SCENE 1: THE BEFORE
The city breathed its last normal breath at 4:17 PM.
Rocky Vance's calloused hands tightened around a frayed electrical wire, the familiar sting of a minor shock barely registering. Thirty feet below street level in a maintenance tunnel that smelled of ozone and damp concrete, he was replacing a corroded junction box—a job as ordinary as the faded Marine Corps tattoo on his forearm.
"You're late on the rent, Vance," the landlord's tinny voice crackled through his Bluetooth earpiece. "Again."
"It'll be there Friday," Rocky grunted, his voice a low rasp from years of shouting over machinery and gunfire. His world was one of tangible things: copper wire, concrete, the weight of tools, the ghost of sand in his boots from tours he never talked about.
"Last warning. This isn't the corps. No one's gonna bail you out."
The line went dead. Rocky ripped the earpiece out and tossed it into his toolbox. The silence of the tunnel was heavy, familiar. It was the kind of quiet that used to precede an ambush. His nerves, once permanently tuned to a warzone's frequency, had never fully readjusted to civilian life. They hummed now, a quiet, useless alarm.
Just paranoia, he told himself. Again.
Then, the lights died.
Not just his work lamp. The entire grid. The deep, mechanical hum of the city above ceased, replaced by a silence so profound it felt physical. A second later, emergency lights flickered on, casting the tunnel in a sickly yellow glow.
A notification appeared in the center of his vision, searingly bright, written in serene, azure text against the darkness.
[System Initialization Complete.]
[Welcome to the Paradigm Shift.]
[A new epoch begins. Reality has been... updated.]
Rocky staggered back, slamming against the tunnel wall. He blinked hard, rubbed his eyes. The text remained, hovering like a persistent afterimage.
[Scanning host...]
[Host: Roland 'Rocky' Vance]
[Species: Human (Baseline)]
[Physique: Peak-Mundane]
[Mental Fortitude: High]
[Eligibility for Class Selection: CONFIRMED]
Voices echoed from the street access grate above—shouts, screams, the sound of shattering glass. Something was very, very wrong.
[To ensure survival and facilitate adaptation, all eligible entities must select a foundational Class. This choice will define your path, your potential, and your purpose in the new reality.]
[Presenting Class Options:]
Three glowing panels materialized before him, each pulsing with a different energy.
> [CLASS: BATTLEFORGED WARRIOR]
A master of arms and armor. Your body becomes your weapon. Progress along paths of the Knight, Berserker, or Guardian. Strength is your law.
[Primary Stat: Strength]
[Sample Ability: 'Iron Hide' - Passive damage reduction.]
> [CLASS: ARCANE FLUX SORCERER]
A weaver of cosmic energies. Bend reality to your will. Progress along paths of the Pyromancer, Cryomancer, or Stormcaller. Knowledge is your power.
[Primary Stat: Intelligence]
[Sample Ability: 'Ember Spark' - Conjure a bolt of fire.]
> [CLASS: SHADOW-STALKER ROGUE]
A phantom of precision and guile. Move unseen, strike lethally. Progress along paths of the Assassin, Trickster, or Scout. Cunning is your shield.
[Primary Stat: Agility]
[Sample Ability: 'Silent Step' - Muffle movement sounds.]
The words were clear, the offer seemingly straightforward. Power. Purpose. A clear path in a suddenly chaotic world. It was everything a lost soldier, a struggling electrician, might crave.
Rocky's eyes narrowed. His military training screamed at him. When the enemy offers you a weapon, first ask who it's really aimed at.
This wasn't a gift. It was a conscription notice. A pretty, blue-screen conscription into a war he didn't understand, for causes he didn't know.
A new line of text scrolled beneath the options, almost hesitant.
[Additional Option Detected...]
> [CLASS: NULL]
An empty set. A path of rejection. You will gain no Stats from the System. You will receive no guided Skills. You will walk a road of your own making, outside the paradigm. This choice is irreversible. Survival probability: 0.03%.
[Primary Stat: None]
[Sample Ability: 'System Ignorance' - Passive resistance to system-based analysis.]
0.03% chance. A statistical zero. A death sentence written in polite, glowing code.
Above, the screams intensified. A sound that was not human—a guttural, chittering roar—ripped through the air, followed by more glass and the distinct crunch of metal.
The system prompt pulsed gently, awaiting his choice.
The Warrior. Strength. Order. He knew that world.
The Sorcerer. Power. Control.
The Rogue. Freedom. Survival.
Each was a cage. A predefined role in a game he never agreed to play.
His fingers, stained with grease, clenched into fists. He saw the faces of men who'd followed orders into pointless graves. He felt the weight of systems—military, bureaucratic, societal—that chewed people up and asked for more.
"No," he whispered to the empty tunnel.
He looked not at the shining, promising Classes, but at the grey, ignored option at the bottom.
[WARNING: Selection of 'NULL' constitutes total rejection of the Paradigm Shift assistance protocol. This action is highly ill-advised. Confirm?]
[Y / N]
A savage grin, born of pure, stubborn defiance, spread across Rocky's face. It was the same grin he'd worn charging a fortified position against all odds.
He reached out a finger, not towards the promise of power, but towards the void.
He selected Y.
[CLASS SELECTED: NULL]
[STAT SHEET LOCKED.]
[SKILL TREE DISABLED.]
[LEVELING PROTOCOLS OFFLINE.]
[Congratulations. You are now an anomaly.]
The blue screens vanished. The world snapped back into focus, but it was a different world. The air tasted of copper and ozone. The distant screams had a new, desperate quality. And from the darkness of the tunnel ahead, deeper than the emergency lights reached, came a wet, sliding sound.
A new, corrupted, glitching line of text flickered briefly in the corner of his vision, in stark, angry red letters before dying out.
[ERROR: Vessel detected. Compatibility: ???. Awaiting...]
Rocky Vance, the Null, the man who refused the world's new rules, picked up his heaviest wrench. The metal was cool and solid in his hand. Real.
From the darkness, a pair of luminescent, slitted eyes opened, reflecting the yellow emergency light. A low growl resonated through the concrete.
He had chosen his path.
Now he had to survive it.
---
[END OF CHAPTER 1]
Author's Note: The game has begun, but our MC has thrown away the rulebook. What awaits in the darkness of the tunnel? The first entity of the new world... or something else entirely?
Next Time on Apex Paradox: Chapter 2 - Symbiote's Grasp - The first battle. The first bond. And the first whisper of the AI that calls itself Orion.
Convert into manhwa x manga NULL
The Choice That Broke the System
CHAPTER 1: THE LAST NORMAL DAY
(Manhwa × Manga Script Format)
PAGE / SCROLL 1 — OPENING MOOD
PANEL 1 (FULL WIDTH / ESTABLISHING SHOT)
A sprawling modern city at sunset. Orange light reflects off glass buildings. Everything looks normal.
CAPTION (NarrATION):
The city took its last normal breath at 4:17 PM.
PAGE / SCROLL 2 — UNDERGROUND
PANEL 2 (VERTICAL PANEL)
Deep underground. A maintenance tunnel. Concrete walls, exposed pipes, faint sparks.
PANEL 3 (CLOSE-UP)
Rough hands gripping a frayed electrical wire. Sparks bite into skin.
SFX:
⚡ ZTT—!
PANEL 4 (HALF BODY SHOT)
ROCKY VANCE, mid-30s, rugged, sweat-soaked work shirt. A faded Marine Corps tattoo on his forearm.
CAPTION:
Thirty feet below the street…
Rocky Vance fixed what the city forgot.
PAGE / SCROLL 3 — THE CALL
PANEL 5 (SIDE VIEW)
Rocky works as a Bluetooth earpiece glows faintly.
LANDLORD (VOICE, FROM EARPIECE):
You're late on the rent, Vance. Again.
PANEL 6 (CLOSE-UP: ROCKY'S EYES)
Tired. Sharp. Alert.
ROCKY:
It'll be there Friday.
LANDLORD (VOICE):
This isn't the Corps. No one's gonna bail you out.
PANEL 7 (ACTION PANEL)
Rocky rips out the earpiece and tosses it into his toolbox.
SFX:
CLACK
CAPTION:
Silence followed.
The kind that comes before something goes wrong.
PAGE / SCROLL 4 — INSTINCT
PANEL 8 (WIDE SHOT)
Tunnel stretches into darkness. Emergency hums echo.
CAPTION:
His instincts never turned off.
War rewires you like that.
PANEL 9 (CLOSE-UP: ROCKY'S FACE)
A faint tension in his jaw.
ROCKY (THOUGHT):
…Just paranoia.
PAGE / SCROLL 5 — BLACKOUT
PANEL 10 (FULL BLACK PANEL)
Total darkness.
SFX:
—
PANEL 11 (SUDDEN LIGHT)
Emergency lights flicker on, bathing the tunnel in sickly yellow.
SFX:
BZZZT—CLICK
PAGE / SCROLL 6 — THE SYSTEM APPEARS
PANEL 12 (FRONTAL SHOT)
Rocky staggers back, shocked.
PANEL 13 (HUD OVERLAY PANEL)
A glowing blue interface appears in front of him.
SYSTEM TEXT:
[System Initialization Complete.]
[Welcome to the Paradigm Shift.]
PANEL 14 (CLOSE-UP: ROCKY'S EYES REFLECTING TEXT)
Reality has been… updated.
PAGE / SCROLL 7 — SCAN
PANEL 15 (SYSTEM SCREEN)
[Scanning Host…]
PANEL 16 (DATA OVERLAY)
Name: Roland "Rocky" Vance
Species: Human (Baseline)
Physique: Peak-Mundane
Mental Fortitude: High
Class Eligibility: CONFIRMED
PANEL 17 (BACKGROUND PANEL)
Above ground—screams, chaos, breaking glass.
SFX (DISTANT):
CRASH—SCREAM—!
PAGE / SCROLL 8 — THE OFFER
PANEL 18 (SYSTEM TEXT)
To survive, all entities must select a Class.
CLASS PANELS (STACKED / SCROLL STYLE)
PANEL 19 — BATTLEFORGED WARRIOR
A towering armored figure.
Strength is your law.
PANEL 20 — ARCANE FLUX SORCERER
A mage wreathed in fire and lightning.
Knowledge is power.
PANEL 21 — SHADOW-STALKER ROGUE
A blade flashing in darkness.
Cunning is survival.
PAGE / SCROLL 9 — DOUBT
PANEL 22 (ROCKY, ARMS CROSSED)
He doesn't look impressed.
CAPTION:
Power.
Order.
Control.
ROCKY (THOUGHT):
When someone hands you a weapon…
ask who they want you to aim it at.
PAGE / SCROLL 10 — THE FORBIDDEN OPTION
PANEL 23 (DIMMED SYSTEM OPTION)
A greyed-out selection at the bottom.
CLASS: NULL
Survival Probability: 0.03%
PANEL 24 (CLOSE-UP: ROCKY'S MOUTH)
A slow, defiant grin.
ROCKY (WHISPER):
No.
PAGE / SCROLL 11 — CONFIRMATION
PANEL 25 (WARNING SCREEN)
WARNING: This choice rejects all System assistance.
Confirm?
[ Y / N ]
PANEL 26 (HAND EXTENDED)
Grease-stained finger hovering.
PAGE / SCROLL 12 — THE CHOICE
PANEL 27 (IMPACT PANEL)
Finger presses Y.
SFX:
CLICK
SYSTEM TEXT (GLITCHING):
[CLASS SELECTED: NULL]
PAGE / SCROLL 13 — CONSEQUENCES
PANEL 28 (SYSTEM TEXT, RAPID FIRE)
[STAT SHEET LOCKED]
[SKILL TREE DISABLED]
[LEVELING OFFLINE]
PANEL 29 (RED TEXT FLASH)
You are now an anomaly.
PAGE / SCROLL 14 — SOMETHING ELSE
PANEL 30 (DARK TUNNEL SHOT)
Wet movement in the shadows.
SFX:
SSSSLRK…
PANEL 31 (GLITCHED RED TEXT)
[ERROR: Vessel detected… Compatibility: ???]
PAGE / SCROLL 15 — FINAL PANEL
PANEL 32 (CLOSE-UP ACTION SHOT)
Rocky grips a heavy wrench.
CAPTION:
No stats.
No skills.
No rules.
PANEL 33 (LAST PANEL — EYES IN DARKNESS)
Two glowing slitted eyes open.
CAPTION:
He chose his path.
Now he had to survive it.
END OF CHAPTER 1