Nox walked into class, and let's be real, he knew the day was gonna suck. It always did.
His uniform was a complete disaster. We're talking faded blue patches where the color had just given up, and a collection of old stains that were basically part of his family now. He scrubbed the thing every night until his knuckles were raw, but it didn't matter. The dirt had decided it lived there now, a permanent reminder that his life was, well, kinda crap.
After a few years of this, something inside him had just… shut down. It was easier to not feel anything, you know?
He slid into his usual desk in the back, trying to shrink, to become one with the cheap wooden chair. Up at the front, Ms. Joy was droning on about history or math or something equally unimportant. He wasn't listening. He was too busy feeling the eyes on him. He could always feel them. The whispers were like his own personal background music.
"Look at him," someone snickered a few rows over. "Dude smells like he sleeps in a dumpster."
"Probably does," another voice added, way louder than it needed to be.
Nox just kept his eyes glued to his textbook, letting the words blur into nothing. 'Heard it all before. Yawn.'
Then came Mark.
You know the type. Captain of the football team, smirk permanently attached to his face, and the main character in the story of "Why Nox's Life is Hell." He swaggered past the desk, all fake confidence and cheap cologne.
"Oops," he drawled, the word lazy and not even trying to sound like an accident.
A full cup of super-bright, super-sugary orange juice tipped over, and a sticky orange waterfall cascaded right down the front of Nox's already ruined shirt.
The cold liquid soaked through instantly, a second skin of pure humiliation.
And then came the laughter. It wasn't just a few chuckles. It was loud, open, and full of teeth. The whole room just erupted.
Nox lifted his head, a slow, deliberate motion. His eyes locked onto Ms. Joy. She was watching the whole thing, her arms crossed, a placid look on her face that was way worse than any frown. She'd seen it all. She'd seen Mark do it on purpose.
He raised a hand, the gesture heavy with the weight of a hundred other unheard complaints. "Ms. Joy," his voice was a monotone, scraped clean of any emotion. "There's been a spill."
Ms. Joy's gaze flickered from him to Mark, who was now making a big show of wiping non-existent juice from his pristine hands. A perfectly manicured eyebrow arched.
"Oh, Nox," she sighed, her voice laced with a theatrical weariness, as if he were the one causing the disruption. "Let's not make a mountain out of a molehill. Mark, you really must be more careful around our more… delicate classmates." She gave a tight, bloodless smile that didn't reach her eyes. "Boys will be boys, after all. You know how clumsy they can be."
The class took her words as a cue, their laughter redoubling, now tinged with the teacher's official stamp of approval.
And as that sound washed over him, something deep inside Nox didn't snap. It didn't break. It just… clicked. A profound, terrifying calm settled into place, and for the first time in years, the noise of the world went completely silent.
'I get it now,' he thought, his face completely blank. 'No one's coming. Not the teachers, not the cops, not the parents I never had. No one gives a shit.' If he wanted this to stop, he was the one who had to make it stop.
He reached down slowly, his hand disappearing into his worn-out school bag. The laughter around the room died down a little as a few students noticed his strange, deliberate stillness.
He pulled out a gun.
The room went dead silent. You could hear a pin drop. Mark's smirk melted off his face, replaced by wide, terrified eyes. Even Ms. Joy's fake smile vanished, her face turning a pasty white.
"What… Nox, what are you doing?" she stammered, her voice suddenly thin and shaky.
He didn't answer. He just looked at their faces, one by one. Fear. They were finally looking at him with fear. Good. He was ready. He was going to make every single one of them pay. He was going to end it all.
Right as he was about to raise the gun, a bright blue screen, like a pop-up ad from hell, appeared right in front of his face. It was see-through, and apparently, only he could see it.
[Congratulations! You have met the requirements!]
[1st Player Chosen!]
[You have won the System!]
'What the actual hell is this?' He was still holding the gun, his finger brushing the trigger, but his brain just blue-screened. A system? Requirements? Won what?
He just stood there, staring at the floating words, the gun feeling a little less steady in his hand. The others in the room couldn't see the screen. They just saw the weird, quiet kid with the gun suddenly freeze and stare at empty air.
'Has he finally lost it?' someone probably thought.
And then the whole world started shaking.
It wasn't a little tremor. The ground bucked and roared like it was being ripped in half. Desks toppled over, bookshelves crashed to the floor, and students started screaming, a pure, panicked sound as they scrambled and fell over each other.
Ms. Joy shrieked and dove under her desk.
Nox stumbled but managed to grab the windowsill, his knuckles white. He just watched the chaos, the blue screen still hovering patiently in front of him. The building groaned and screamed for what felt like an hour but was probably just a few minutes.
When it finally stopped, the silence was almost as scary as the noise. It was broken only by a few whimpers and the distant sound of things still collapsing.
New text scrolled across the screen.
[Merge complete.]
[Current world population: 20 billion.]
'Twenty billion? Earth has eight. What merge?'
[Dungeons have been placed throughout the world.]
[Mana has been injected into the atmosphere.]
[Good luck, Player Nox.]
The blue screen winked out of existence.
He was just left standing there, gun in hand, in the ruins of his classroom, on a world that was suddenly very, very different.
A high-pitched, terrified scream echoed from the hallway outside, sharp and then suddenly cut off. Everyone froze.
"What was that?" a girl near the door whispered.
"Someone's out there!"
As the other kids were freaking out, another blue screen popped up just for him.
[New Mission Issued!]
[First Dungeon Alert: A dungeon has been placed in your school.]
[Objective: Clear the dungeon.]
[Rewards: 1,000 EXP, 1x Random Skill, +5 Stat Points.]
[Accept? Y/N]
'A dungeon? In the school? And rewards?' It sounded like a video game. But the wrecked room and the screaming outside were a little too real.
He looked at the gun in his hand. His plan to kill everyone felt… small now. Distant. This new "system" was offering him a different path. A path to power.
He still felt that cold deadness inside, but now there was a flicker of something else. Curiosity.
He focused on the screen and mentally pressed 'Y'.
[Mission Accepted: Clear the Dungeon.]