Darkness hadn't just swallowed Shino; it had erased him. There was no tunnel, no golden gates, only a crushing, pressurized silence.
Then, the interface flickered into existence.
It didn't look like a video game menu. It looked like a command from a higher dimension, cutting through the void, neon precision of a surgical laser.
[SYSTEM: INITIALIZING…]
[SOUL RECONSTITUTION: 100%]
[HOST IDENTITY: REN CAMRY (REPLACEMENT PROTOCOL)]
[WARNING: THE SYSTEM DOES NOT NEGOTIATE. INSTRUCTIONS ARE ABSOLUTE.]
Before Shino could even form a thought, before he could ask where or why, the void shattered.
He didn't wake up so much as he was "slammed" back into reality. The first sensation was the weight. His lungs felt massive, drawing in air with a depth and power he had never known. The second was the bed beneath him; it didn't dip or groan under his weight. It felt solid, supporting a body that was dense, heavy, and humming with an unfamiliar, electric current.
He sat up, his movements fluid and terrifyingly fast. He looked at his hands. Gone were the thin, shaky fingers of a shut-in. These hands were bronzed, the knuckles thick.
Is this a dream?
[DING!]
[REALITY CHECK: NEGATIVE. THIS IS YOUR EXISTENCE. FOLLOW THE SCRIPT OR FACE DELETION.]
Ren, he had to call himself Ren now as he stumbled toward the full-length mirror. He froze. A 6'3" powerhouse with a sharp jawline and eyes that held a sharp, terrifying clarity. He wasn't just "attractive." He was an evolutionary anomaly.
"What the hell have I become?" he whispered. His voice was a deep, vibrating baritone that seemed to resonate in his very bones.
[HOST STATUS: REN]
[CURRENT RANK: LEVEL 1 – THE UNSEEN VIRGIN]
[CORE OBJECTIVE: THE THOUSAND-INTIMACY THRONE (0/1000)]
[NOTE: THE SYSTEM PROVIDES THE POWER. YOU PROVIDE THE RESULTS. FAILURE TO COMPLY RESULTS IN SYSTEM RECLAMATION.]
Ren's mind reeled. The memories of a loser clashed with this god-like frame. He felt like an actor trapped in a lethal script, forced to perform or face total erasure.
The coldness of the text sent a shiver down his spine. This wasn't a partnership; it was a draft. He was a soldier in a war of conquest he didn't yet understand.
The door pushed open without a knock. Tamara, his younger sister, walked in with a stack of towels. In his old life, a girl this pretty would have sent him into a sweating panic. But Tamara didn't even blink. She just rolled her eyes at him standing there shirtless.
"Again with the mirror, Ren? We get it, you're huge. Now put a shirt on before Aunt Merylin starts her lecture again."
Ren turned, and as he looked at her, his vision glitched. A jagged, pulsing red line slashed across his sight, hovering over her head.
[!!! RESTRICTION: BLOOD RELATIVE DETECTED !!!]
[ACTION: PROHIBITED.]
[PENALTY FOR VIOLATION: IMMEDIATE DELETION.]
The warning was so vivid, so violent, that Ren actually winced. The System wasn't just giving him a "game over" screen; it was threatening to stop his heart mid-beat. It was a leash.
"I'm coming," Ren said, his voice steady despite the chaos in his mind.
He followed her downstairs.This place was modern, airy, and smelled of expensive coffee and fresh linen. In the kitchen, Aunt Merylin was packing a lunchbox. She looked up, and for a split second, Ren saw the briefest flash of something in her eyes before she masked it with maternal concern.
"Ren, sit. Eat," she commanded.
As he sat, his massive frame made the kitchen chair look like a child's toy. Merylin sighed, leaning against the counter. "I saw the news about the Academy's 'Social Integration' policy this year. Ren, look at me."
He looked up. The red line appeared again.
[!!! RESTRICTION: GUARDIAN/AUNT DETECTED !!!]
[ACTION: PROHIBITED.]
Ren suppressed a shudder. The System was drawing lines in the sand, marking who was "off-limits" with the threat of death. It was focusing him, narrowing his gaze toward the "Targets" that actually mattered.
"I know you're... gifted," Merylin said, her voice dropping as she gestured to his broad shoulders. "But Saint Jude's Academy is a shark tank. You're eighteen, and you're already a magnet for trouble. Promise me you won't go around getting half the freshman class pregnant. I don't want a dozen girls at my door by mid-semester."
Ren almost laughed. In his old life, the only "magnet" he had was for ridicule. Here, his presence was considered a public health hazard.
"I'll be careful, Auntie," Ren said.
[DING!]
[SYSTEM COMMENTARY: DECEPTION DETECTED. THE HOST WILL NOT BE CAREFUL. THE HOST WILL CONQUER.]
Ren ignored the prompt, focusing on his breakfast. He could feel the eyes of his family on him, Tamara's casual annoyance, Merylin's deep-seated worry. They saw him as the same Ren he had always been in this world, but he felt like a cuckoo in the nest. He had faint memories of this Ren, the effortless grades, but he had the soul of Shino, a man who was starving for the life he had been denied.
"You'd better be," Merylin continued. "That bus will be here in ten minutes. If you miss the transfer to the Academy, you're walking.
Ren stood up, grabbed his bag, and headed for the door. As he stepped out into the sunlight of this "Parallel World," the scale of his new life finally hit him.
The billboards lining the street weren't for insurance or fast food. They were for the Academy.
"ST. JUDE'S ACADEMY: WHERE PASSION MEETS PEDIGREE."
"CULTIVATE YOUR POTENTIAL. CLAIM YOUR FUTURE."
This wasn't just a school. It was a ground for the elite, a place where the social hierarchy was as rigid as iron. In his old life, he would have been the floor they walked on. In this life...
Ren looked at his reflection in the bus window as it pulled up. The System flickered one more time.
[NEW QUEST: THE FIRST TITHE]
[TIME LIMIT: 24 HOURS.]
[REWARD: SOVEREIGN'S SCENT (PASSIVE).]
[FAILURE: IMMEDIATE DELETION.]
Ren's jaw tightened. The System really knew how to motivate a man. No negotiations. No "maybe later."