Late at night, I was doing what I did every day—reading webnovels on my phone. It was my only way to shed the day's exhaustion and find some semblance of peace. With the university entrance exams looming next year, the pressure from my parents and teachers was becoming a suffocating weight.
It wasn't that my grades were bad; they were actually quite good. I just... didn't want to work. What if I put in all that effort and got nothing in return? What if a sudden illness on exam day rendered years of study meaningless?
I was terrified of trying my best and still failing.
I used to feel more relaxed around my friends, but even they had started burying themselves in their books. I couldn't bring myself to be a burden by constantly asking them to hang out. As a result, my webnovel consumption skyrocketed. I could feel myself drifting further into asocial habits every passing day.
Enough with the negativity, I thought. I need to sleep. Tomorrow is Monday.
I plugged my phone into the charger on my desk and collapsed into bed.
The next morning, I went through the motions. I ate the sandwich my mother made and brushed my teeth. Staring into the mirror, I realized how much I'd let myself go. My hair had grown long enough to touch my shoulders, and for some reason, the shade had shifted from blond to a dull auburn. My eyes were puffy from lack of sleep.
Maybe I should take better care of myself, I mused.
Back in my room, as I pulled on my school uniform, I noticed it felt baggy yet too short. I hadn't even realized how much my own body was changing. Shaking off the thought, I grabbed my bag and headed out.
On the way to school, I ran into Vera. She was a beautiful girl, about 160–165 cm tall, with raven-black hair and striking blue eyes. Her grades were excellent, though she struggled when it came to athletics. We were close.
"Morning, Nova. How are you? You look a bit... rough," she said, her brow furrowed with concern.
"Ah, I'm fine. My sleep schedule has just been a mess lately, that's probably why. How about you?"
We walked the rest of the way, chatting about mundane, everyday things.
First period was Physics.
I was staring blankly out the window, completely lost in thought, when the teacher reached my name on the roll call.
"Nova? Nova! Is Nova here, class?"
The shouting snapped my focus back to the room. "Present!" I called out.
The lesson began. The topic was Impulse and Momentum. It was a reasonably straightforward subject, but instead of listening, my mind drifted back to the webnovel I'd read last night. I was busy theorizing what would happen to the protagonist in the next arc when a sharp, searing pain shot through my chest.
I tried to scream, but no sound came out.
I felt the warmth of blood trickling from my nose. Desperate to catch someone's attention, I reached out to slam my hand against the desk—but my strength vanished.
Darkness swarmed my vision as I lost consciousness.
In the void, a single, glowing blue system interface flickered into existence before my eyes. Only one word was written on it:
[You Have Died]