On a day of fine drizzle, I felt like a speck of debris floating on a flowing stream. I was a tiny, weightless particle of dust, greatly disturbed by even the faint ripples created by rainwater. Plop, pitter-patter. Each time raindrops fell on the calm surface, small sparks shot up like stars dotting the night sky. It was a sublime and brilliant light, seemingly announcing the birth of life.

Had I finally found the utopia that all beings yearn for?

I looked up at the sky with melancholic eyes, only to face the truth belatedly. Unlike the abundant sea, the sky was cracked as though suffering from drought. Through the split crevices, reddish heat haze escaped and beckoned to me. Though bizarre in appearance, it wasn’t unfamiliar at all.

Red cracks in a pure white sky. This place resembling the cosmos was inside Oceanos.

“…Huh?”

The moment I realized this, my eyes flew open as though someone had suddenly pushed me off a cliff. Having awakened from a deep sleep, I wandered in a half-dreaming state for a while. Eventually, my blurry vision returned, revealing the practice room where I had been living for about a week.

“This doesn’t seem… like a dream…”

I slowly sat up and stretched my arms high. Strangely, my body felt unusually light. Normally by now, every joint would be screaming for relief, but despite having slept on the hard floor without a blanket, I felt much more refreshed than usual.

“That’s odd…”

The headache that had been throbbing from sleep deprivation was gone, and my nausea from the potion had completely subsided. Moreover, my magical power, which used to scatter at every opportunity, somehow seemed firmly anchored to my core.

Could this all be thanks to Oceanos? Not being able to directly confirm what changes had occurred inside me was frustrating. Perhaps due to anxiety, my arms crossed over my chest couldn’t stay still, constantly tapping my elbows.

“Oceanos?”

I called out hopefully, but only silence filled the practice room. I had expected him to pop out immediately and boast, “See? Wasn’t it good that you listened to me?” But my expectation was completely off the mark. If Oceanos wouldn’t tell me, I’d have to check for myself.

As soon as I stood up, I looked down at my shadow and muttered:

“Agnus. Want to come out?”

No sooner had I finished speaking than a majestic wolf stood tall on my shadow. A glossy sheen I’d never seen before flowed through its thick fur that covered even its plump paws. I almost felt guilty for having mainly summoned smaller animals like cats and rabbits to conserve magical power.

Even more surprising was the magical power consumption. Until just yesterday, when summoning Agnus, magical power seemed to endlessly leak through holes perforating my body. But now, it felt like I was simply setting aside an appropriate amount.

Hoping it wasn’t just my imagination, I decided to experiment.

“Can you pierce through?”

I pointed to a rock placed in the middle of the practice room, just like when I attacked Hecate in the library. Agnus growled lowly, slowly swinging its head in a figure-eight motion. A fierce light gleamed in its eyes that focused solely on the target. Then, without even a running start, Agnus leaped toward the rock in one bound.

CRASH!

With an ear-splitting sound, black smoke spread thickly. The impact was so powerful, like a gas tank exploding, that I froze in place, too shocked to even think of taking cover. Due to the hazy smoke spraying like fog, I couldn’t tell what had happened. Unable to approach, I stood quietly in place, waiting for the smoke to clear.

Shortly after, seeing the sight before me, I involuntarily let out a hollow laugh.

“…Wow.”

A clean hole had been punched through the center of the solid rock, making the other side clearly visible. Even from a distance, the cross-section of the pierced area was remarkably clean. It was far more impressive craftsmanship than when attacking Hecate.

Meanwhile, Agnus, having just demolished a rock, approached me wagging its tail, completely nonchalant about what it had done. When it nudged my calf with its elongated snout, I quickly patted its head and said:

“Oh, amazing. Really… well done.”

Still dumbfounded, I kept glancing at the rock. Although I could feel a significant drain of magical power, it wasn’t debilitating like before. This was definitely a change. Experiencing the stabilized core, my hands trembled with indescribable excitement.

“Agnus. This is…”

Just as I was hugging the puzzled Agnus tightly, an unexpected voice interrupted:

– You’ve unnecessarily consumed too much magical power for Agnus’s attack. Current remaining amount: 50%. You can preserve up to 70%.

I was startled by the voice flowing directly into my mind but quickly calmed down. There was only one entity that spoke to me in such a businesslike manner.

“System…?”

– Yes, Tae-oh.

Perhaps because it had been so long, System felt strangely unfamiliar. Moreover, it was odd, even awkward, to receive advice unrelated to the Monster Encyclopedia. I looked into empty space and let out an embarrassed laugh.

“You had such a function? You should have told me earlier.”

Then I wouldn’t have needed to struggle for days. Muttering to myself, I plopped down in place. But soon, an ominous feeling raised its head in a corner of my mind. System had clearly stated it only had functions related to the Monster Encyclopedia. The sudden addition of features without reason was highly suspicious.

And this wasn’t the only strange thing.

“System… was your voice always like this?”

Why did System’s voice seem different? The System I first met in this world definitely had a neat female voice. But this voice belonged to a male with a low register. Moreover, the resonant beautiful voice even felt familiar.

“Answer me, System. No, just say anything.”

My mouth suddenly went dry, and I swallowed hard. After a long silence, what came back was a soft laugh. That laughter was disturbingly similar to someone I knew. I tried to deny the single name that came to mind.

In response, the laughter tickling my ears grew even deeper.

– You noticed faster than I expected.

This time, the voice came from behind me, not from inside my head. I turned around in shock, and my face turned pale. I could hardly believe my eyes. With trembling fingers, I pointed at the man standing before me.

“…You, no. You are…”

Despite my continued stammering, the man paid no attention and greeted me.

– Allow me to introduce myself anew. I am ‘System,’ here to assist Tae-oh in your convenient adventures.

Impossible! The man with wavy hair tied down and dressed in neat formal attire was unmistakably Oceanos. But introducing himself as System when looking at me—had I finally gone mad?

Yes, this must be a dream. I’m having the worst nightmare because I’m so exhausted. Surely mischievous Oceanos is playing a trick on me. Despite nervously twitching the corners of my mouth, I tried to appear calm and waved my hand dismissively.

“O-Oceanos, stop joking around.”

– While I certainly include ‘him,’ you should now call me System.

“…I said stop joking, Oceanos.”

– System.

His stubbornness definitely matched Oceanos. But the great Oceanos wouldn’t use formal speech with me just for a prank. I discreetly pinched my thigh, only to feel pain. This wasn’t a dream. It was a nightmarish reality.

“……”

I hugged Agnus tightly instead of using a shield and glared at Oceanos. The coral crown he always wore was gone, with only the veil pushed back remaining, making him look like he was wearing a wedding veil. His face, previously obscured by the veil, was now clearly visible, adding to the sense of incongruity.

Moreover, his appearance was subtly different from Oceanos. The original Oceanos had blue eyes like the unfathomable deep sea and water-colored hair. But this Oceanos, or rather, this man had blood-colored eyes and silver hair like sunlight scattered on a water surface. Only the red scar extending from his forehead to the bridge of his nose remained the same.

I compared the original Oceanos with this man claiming to be System, like playing a spot-the-difference game. The more I thought about it, the more he felt like a different entity, making the situation even more hopeless. While I was lost in serious contemplation, suddenly the silver-haired man approached me.

“No, wait. Stay right there. I said stop!”

Raising both hands, I raised my voice, and he stopped in place. Keeping a distance as wide as my wary heart, I questioned him accusingly:

“Are you really System?”

– Yes, I am. Seeing you suddenly use formal speech with me, it must be because of this appearance.

“With that face and using formal speech, you’re making me want to cry a little…”

The man twitched the corner of his mouth and lightly shrugged his shoulders. Even his expression and actions were frighteningly identical to Oceanos. After nervously biting my lower lip, I suddenly said to him:

“Prove that you’re System. Go on, do it.”

I said the same thing as when I first met System. If he was really System, he would recite information about me without hesitation. As I looked at him with suspicious eyes, the man smiled slyly.

– Just like when we first met, you really like being proven to, don’t you?

The short breath he let out with a “huff” carried a hint of annoyance. But I got goosebumps from his words remembering the “first” meeting. Could he really be System? As my certainty began to overcome doubt, the man simply drove the point home:

– You set your alarm for 6 AM every day and turned it off after the song repeated three times.

“Wait. Are you really System?”

– I told you earlier. Well, since we’re on the topic, let me continue.

Finding something amusing about my face filled with shock, the man maintained a gentle smile.

– You changed your alarm to a song by your favorite singer, thinking you might wake up happier in the morning, but it had the opposite effect. Even on weekends, hearing that song made you feel like you had to go to work, so you changed it back after a week. Moreover, didn’t you completely remove that singer from your playlist?

“That was… I had my reasons.”

– Your most searched term was ‘how to get revenge discreetly.’ The next was a graduate school information platform. But you never posted anything on anonymous sites. You had over a hundred temporarily saved posts on professor evaluation boards… Thinking dark thoughts without acting—that hasn’t changed, then or now.

“No, that’s because I heard anonymous protection wasn’t that reliable…”

Wait. Why am I making excuses? I asked for proof, but now I’m regretting it after being hit with these piercing truths. I covered my foolishly gaping mouth with my hand, but couldn’t stop the sighs escaping involuntarily. But he didn’t stop and continued pressing me:

– Speed dial number 1 was your family-like professor. Simultaneously, the number you blocked as spam the most was also that professor. Number 2 was 911, but fortunately, you never had to call it. I wonder if you knew my intentions when I recommended health foods to you through algorithms.

Finishing without even pausing for breath, he smiled with his bloodless lips and asked:

– Shall I continue?

“You’re right. You are! You are System. The one I knew…”

Even if I wanted to deny it, he was indeed System. His information about me had become even more detailed than before. Hearing the opinions inserted between facts like annotations made my head spin. It was like a machine had developed its own will.

“Um, my brain might be slow, but… could you explain it in a way that’s easier to understand?”

– It’s exactly as stated—the things residing within you have merged into one. It’s an essence that only you, standing neither with magical creatures nor humans, could possess.

Chaos. That’s what it was. The polite System, the willful Oceanos, and even the sly Ophelia had combined to create a strange mixture. While I pulled at my hair, unwilling to face reality, the man spoke with apparent enjoyment of the situation:

– From now on, this System will kindly point out what you fail to discover.

To think I’d have to keep seeing this face. Indeed, there was no such thing as a deal without losses.