Shock instantly swallowed Jacob's very being whole. Immense shock!
His eyes widened at the glowing panel floating in front of him, pupils shrinking to pin-sized dots. Instantly, his breath hitched—his chest rising and falling rapidly—as his heart began pounding like a war drum, each beat slamming into his ribcage with violent force, barely contained by his flimsy, half-starved body.
Struggling to keep himself upright, he staggered backwards—only to have his legs slam into the table behind him.
Bang!
He crashed onto the floor, hard.
A sharp jolt echoed through his skull like a wrecking ball had smashed into it. Clutching his head tightly, he yelped.
"Argh! Argh! F**k! it hurts!"
The pain was brutal. That wasn't just a fall—it was an event.. His head had smacked the floor so hard, it seemed as if ripples had been sent through it. His heart was pounding, and now his brain wanted in on the action too? What sort of twisted joke was this?
First, a blinding purple light. Second, a [Ding!] like something out of a video game. Third, his stomach waging war due to the sheer need for food. Fourth, a searing heat in his chest nearly burning his insides. And now? Brain trauma.
If this wasn't bad luck, then what the hell was? If this wasn't the universe actively trying to murder him, then what was it doing—training for it?
Groaning, he rubbed the back of his head with his bony palms, desperately trying to massage away the agony. His eyes remained shut—tight. Instinctual. Pure survival mode.
After a few seconds of sad, desperate scalp therapy, Jacob slowly peeled his eyes open. The single lightbulb on the ceiling flickered above, casting a weak, dim glow over his crappy little apartment.
Then something caught his eye.
It was still there.That glowing purple panel.
Hovering in front of him, clear and unreal. Letters lined up in glowing golden rows, neatly organized like a divine spreadsheet. His breath quickened again. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face as he stared, wide-eyed and blinking in pure confusion.
"What is this? I… totally forgot about it. What even is this?"
The fall had knocked everything out of his head. He'd been so preoccupied with not dying from skull-crushing pain that he'd momentarily forgotten about the very thing that had triggered it all.
"Is this real? Is this… some kind of prank?"
He glanced around the apartment. Same silence. Same trash. Same depressing wallpaper of poverty and pain.
Turning his attention back to the panel, Jacob slowly raised his right hand, extending a shaky pinky finger toward it. He hovered for a second, pausing just before contact.
His finger trembled. He hesitated.Then—he steeled himself.
And touched it.
Instantly, the panel registered the contact. A piercing, high-pitched ringing sound rang out.
[Host has made contact with the system for the first time]
[Host finger has now been registered — quickly changing view…]
"Huh? Wha—"
Before he could finish speaking, everything around him changed.
The darkness of his miserable apartment faded. The clutter, the dust, the lightbulb — gone. The very space began to ripple and dissolve into a glowing purple haze, everything dematerializing before his eyes.
Confused, dazed, and with zero understanding of what was happening, Jacob found himself standing somewhere new — somewhere strange. His eyes darted around, filled with raw wonder and absolute confusion.
[Welcome, to the Bank, Host!]