The train stopped.
Nocten stepped out, unaware how quickly the station had arrived. His legs carried him toward the same office, same road, same silence. A loop with no end.
Then he saw it.
A light.
In the middle of the road — glowing.
Not flashing. Not moving.
Just... waiting. Like it knew him.
He stopped walking. The world seemed to pause.
The light pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat. Cold. White. Alive.
It shouldn't have been there. And yet, it was.
Then—
A horn.
Too late.
The impact threw his body across the road like a ragdoll.
Bones snapped. Blood sprayed.
People screamed.
But he heard none of it.
Nocten lay on the ground, staring at the sky.
No pain. No panic. No fear.
Just silence.
Then a memory — random, meaningless.
A teacher yelling at him in school.
"You'll never be anything at this rate!"
That's what floated to the surface. Out of everything.
> "Am I dying?"
"Maybe that's fine. Maybe that's better than being... nothing."
---
White ceiling. Beeping sounds.
Nocten opened his eyes.
> "...WTF… I'm still alive?"
He blinked.
This wasn't another world. No swords. No magic. No system.
Just him. In a hospital bed.
Alive, somehow.
His body was wrapped in bandages. But even then—no pain.
> "Why can't I feel anything?"
"Am I still dreaming?"
"Did they drug me too much... or not enough?"
He couldn't think clearly. His head felt like static.
A nurse walked in. Then the doctor.
> "You're lucky," the man said. "But your head took a hard hit. You need one month of full rest. No sudden movements. Got it?"
Nocten stared at him.
> "One month? I can't even afford one day..."
He didn't say it out loud. He just sighed.
The doctor left. The nurse followed.
And Nocten was alone again.
> "Why... don't I feel pain?"
Then he remembered it.
That light.
That thing.
It hadn't been part of the crash. It came before it.
His thoughts spiraled, but his mind was too weak to chase them.
Dizziness crept in. His eyes closed on their own.
But before the dark took him, one last thought remained.
> That light... it wasn't gone.
It was inside him now.