Chapter 1: Unreal Reality [1]

I woke up in a unfamiliar bed, cuffed by some unfamiliar device by the neck with a sealed wire that protruded from the ceiling.

The room had no windows and is white in color.

Faint disinfectant smell lingered in the air wherever I turned my head in confusion.

Didn't I jump from the glass tower? How did I survive? Is this a new form of an intensive care unit?

The more I pondered, the more it didn't make any sense. I was sure I jumped from a place that would guarantee to splatter my bones into thousand pieces.

So what happened? And why was I cuffed by this weirdly cool high tech looking glowing piece of metal around my neck?

A sudden announcement erupted in the room. It made me twitch in surprise. The clear male announcer had a hint of malicious intent that was hard to detect.

—Wyland Ountilov. You are now hereby released from the Detention Cell 77. Do not cause any trouble again. You can now return to your dorm room with full access to your personal belongings.

Then the announcement ended just like that, suddenly releasing me from my shackles. While a click noise resounded. I have no idea who Wyland Ountilov was, or why the announcer is confusingly addressing me as the unknown person.

Because my name is Art Keller.

A twenty year old guy who jumped from a skyscraper.

•••

From the other side of the perspective, the announcer wore a white-blue uniform with the large black alphabet "I.M.P." on his back and on his proud white-blue striped beret.

His face was wrinkled but still retained a youthful expression on it.

He watched Wyland Ountilov from the security camera that covered all the possible blind spots for this bastard, only to leave a dissatisfied sigh. Arms crossed.

"Tch. How many times is it now? Twenty-two times because you can't keep it in your pants? If Obrex didn't personally cater to your sorry arse, you would've already been sent to the frontline to die."

A minute passes by with nothing happening on screen. He knitted his eyebrows together, noticing something odd. It irritated him that the man hasn't even moved from his bed yet.

He naturally let a sneer out.

"What? Trying to spite me or throwing a tantrum? Why the hell aren't you leaving?"

He rolled his eyes, annoyed that he must talk to this person again. The wrinkles seems to be only worsening.

•••

My freedom of movement was given back, I looked around the white room to inspect my environment. It was pretty plain and simple looking. I was surprised that nothing stood out in the room. Not even myself or the bed I slept on.

The mysterious neck cuff were just hanging there. However, the longer I stayed in this room, the more it began degrading my mental health.

This room was obviously not a intensive care unit after some careful considerations.

If this isn't an intensive care unit, where am I then?

For whatever reason, I got a chill down my spine. There were no medical equipment present and I had no hardened cast anywhere. My body seemed to have miraculously survived the fall, and healed all of my bones and ruptured organs as if it never happened.

That was, simply impossible.

Thoughts crossed my mind, making up wild theories as of why I'm here, and why I'm not dead yet.

Though another sudden announcement came from the invisible speaker that I could not see. Breaking my concentration.

—Wyland Ountilov, leave your cell now. I won't say it a third time.

With those words, the room is awfully silent again.

Out of the blue, something extraordinary happened in front of me. I couldn't move a single muscle. As if time froze.

Only my mind could "move" freely.

[System Notice]

[Timer: 1:00]

[Choose]

[1]—Insult the announcer by calling him a predatory old geezer.

[Permanent Buff Perseverance][+1.5]

[Temporary Buff Intelligence][+0.2]

[Temporary Debuff Luck][—3]

[2]—Stay in the cell.

[Temporary Buff Perseverance][+2.5]

[Temporary Debuff Charisma][—2.5]

[3]—Leave the cell.

[Temporary Buff Luck][+0.01]

All I could do was stare at the options for a second and reasonably chose option three.

My body regained its control again. Or at least I thought I would as my body moved on its own.

Without a blink of an eye, I left the room hurriedly.

Outside, painted with a different shade of grey, the hallway stretched to my left and right. At each end is a robust looking door.

There were also other numbered rooms just like mine.

My face contorted into a confused and nervous look. It was made more obvious as I added a silent sentence.

"Okay. This is gonna be interesting."