A notification blinked on the screen.
Marco had sent him a message.
Marco:
Yo bro… finally online. Where the fuck have you been all this time???
Aiden:
…What? Does it even matter, bro?
Marco:
Nah, forget it. But did you check the news on TV?
Aiden:
Nope. I don't watch news on TV. I only scroll.
Marco:
Hahahah, seriously? Lately a lot of things have happened. I don't even know how to explain it, but strange things are happening all the time. The entire Eclipse-net is going wild. For example, the game lately… it just crashed out of nowhere. Even players all around the world are complaining.
Aiden:
Are you serious?
Marco:
Yeah. The servers went down. Everyone online is talking about it.
Aiden:
Wait. everywhere? What game?
Marco:
Eclipse of the Transcendents, dude.
Aiden:
Wait, we were playing in the Tournament Hunt, but there was no game crash. Are you fucking joking right now?
Marco:
No, bro! Chill. I'm telling the truth.
Marco:
But come on, man. you're the fucking guild master playing with the team members. I couldn't even join you guys. Even Alger, Ortis, Josh, and Dave are talking about it. You could ask them. They all said the same thing. Honestly, I didn't believe it at first either. But on social media, people were posting before the game crashed. You could ask the people in the guild if they had recordings of it.
But seriously, bro… what the heck happened to you? You suddenly stopped messaging all of us.
Aiden paused for a moment.
Aiden:
What exactly do you mean by that?
Marco:
Seriously, dude. After all this time, you finally send a message. Just check your other account.
Aiden:
Huh… what exactly happened? Can you tell me?
Marco:
I don't know. I just saw it online and other people talking about it. I even asked Ortis about it. At first, I didn't believe it until the four of them confirmed it. I can describe what they said and what happened, but honestly, I wanted to ask you something first.
You suddenly disappeared out of nowhere. You didn't reply. We even tried to go to your home, but you, you were nowhere. Like you suddenly vanished.
Seriously, dude… what exactly happened to you?
Aiden couldn't say a thing. He was speechless.
So many things had happened, and everything felt strange.
First, he experienced being in another world.
He died there, fucking died!!. The memory was horrible, something he never wanted to experience again.
And now this strange occurrence.
What the hell is wrong with this world?
He let out a bitter laugh. Countless complicated emotions twisted inside his chest. For a moment, he even wondered if he might really have to go to a mental hospital.
He rubbed his temples to steady himself, reread the message, and then began typing a reply.
Aiden:
Yeah, sure. Could you tell me everything? And I'll tell you what exactly I went through… though you might think I'm a crazy person.
Oh right… maybe I already am. Haha.
Marco:
Hahaha, I didn't think you'd actually say that. Yeah, sure. But in the forums, streams, chats… people are going insane. Some players are even pissed.
Marco:
No idea why, but other players who are addicted to the game are going crazy about it. Seriously.
Aiden:
Yeah… can you tell me about it?
Marco:
Well, yeah. But not exactly before the log out. Something happened in the game before it shut down.
Aiden:
…That's messed up. Bro, can you just fucking tell! me already? You keep repeating it again and again, just say it already.
Marco:
Ahem. Sorry about that, hehe… I could just send you the video.
Marco:
Here's the link.
Aiden stared at the link Marco had sent.
For a moment, he hesitated… then clicked it.
The screen shifted, loading into another website.
Rows of videos appeared across the page.
Some thumbnails were blurry, others strangely familiar. As Aiden glanced through them, he noticed the captions underneath.
"Step-sister…"
"Late night secret…"
"Hidden camera…"
Aiden froze.
"…Seriously?"
For a few seconds, he just sat there, staring at the screen in disbelief.
Then, without thinking too much about it, he clicked one of the videos.
The page loaded.
A moment passed.
Aiden rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"…What the hell did I even expect from that idiot?" he muttered under his breath.
He cleared his throat.
"Ahem…"
His eyes drifted back to the screen for a second longer before he suddenly shook his head.
"Shit. I got distracted."
Without wasting another moment, he quickly closed the website and returned to the chat.
When the screen refreshed, he noticed a new message from Marco sent about two minutes ago.
Marco:
Shit bro… I sent the wrong link.
Marco:
I copied the link while I was doing some "research," so I honestly thought that was the video I meant to send you. 😅
Marco:
So uh… what do you think about it? Any reviews? Hehe.
Aiden stared at the message with a blank expression.
Another message popped up.
Marco:
Oh yeah, by the way, this is the real link to the video.
Marco sent the real link to Aiden. Aiden opened it carefully and waited for the video to load.
The screen showed an official title. It read "Global Shutdown Event – Eclipse-net Emergency Broadcast."
Aiden's eyes narrowed as he read the words. The title already sounded serious and unusual.
The video displayed the Eclipse-net logo. After that, a system announcement began playing.
The voice in the broadcast explained that an unexpected anomaly had been detected. It affected the entire network.
The announcement said the issue was not limited to one server. It was spreading across all connected regions.
As the message continued, the broadcast started to glitch. The audio became distorted and filled with static.
The screen flickered several times. The visuals shifted and briefly lost clarity.
Then something strange happened. For a split second, the same unknown symbol appeared on every connected screen shown in the video.
The symbol was displayed at the exact same time across different devices. It appeared in multiple regions without warning.
Immediately after that moment, the broadcast ended. The screen turned completely black.
There was no explanation. There was no follow-up message. The transmission stopped suddenly.
Aiden quickly returned to the chat. He asked Marco if everyone had seen the same thing.
Marco replied that it was global. Players from different countries had recorded clips before everything went offline, confirming that the shutdown affected all servers at once.
That meant the event was not local. It was not tied to one match or one group of players. It had happened everywhere at the same time.
Aiden leaned back slowly in his chair, trying to process what he just saw. If millions of players witnessed the same broadcast, then the system anomaly was real and widespread.
But something bothered him deeply. If everyone experienced the shutdown, why did he not remember any interruption during his own gameplay?
He thought carefully about the moment. He was online. He was playing. Everything felt normal in his memory.
There was no crash. There was no distortion. There was no warning on his screen....
Aiden blinked in confusion.
Weird… why can't I remember what happened after that?
They had played the game.
They had won.
He was sure of it.
After the victory screen appeared…
After the celebration in voice chat…
After that.
He paused.
His brows slowly furrowed.
After… what?
He tried to reach deeper into his memory, forcing himself to recall the details.
The more he focused, the heavier his head felt.
Fragments flashed in his mind, but none of them stayed long enough to make sense.
It was like trying to hold water in his hands.
Every time he thought he was close to remembering something, it slipped away.
Then Marco typed again in the chat.
Marco explained that after the shutdown, many players reported strange side effects. Some accounts logged out automatically. Some saved data changed without permission. Others showed activity while the owners were offline.
Marco added one more message.
He said Aiden's account was one of the affected ones.
During the shutdown window, the system recorded activity from Aiden's profile.
But Aiden was not responding.
And his location data had changed twice during that time.
Marco continued typing in the chat.
He said that after the global broadcast event, things did not stop inside the game.
At first, many players thought it was only a server problem. They assumed the system would recover quickly.
But suddenly, reports began appearing online from different countries.
These reports were not about gameplay anymore.
They were about real-world disruptions.
Aiden paused his fingers above the keyboard as he read.
He asked Marco what he meant.
Marco replied that he was not completely sure. He said he was only repeating information he had seen on social media.
According to online posts, some systems in certain countries became unstable shortly after the crash.
There were mentions of power grids flickering in some areas.
Some digital networks reportedly went down for a short time.
Marco added that there were even claims about temporary lockdowns in certain places.
He quickly clarified that he was not certain if it was truly a lockdown or just a security response.
He admitted he might be misunderstanding the details.
But people online were saying that authorities reacted because of sudden and unexpected technical failures.
Aiden:
What about the lockdown? What's the cause?
Marco:
Apparently, there's some virus spreading suddenly. I'm not sure how serious it is yet, but yeah… our area's under lockdown now.
Aiden:
Wait, are you serious?!
Marco:
Dead serious. And now I'm curious… how do you not know about this? What have you been doing all this time?
Aiden pauses, staring at his screen for a moment.
Then he types.
Aiden:
It's complicated. Something weird happened to me… but I don't even know how to explain it properly.
Marco:
HAHAHA. Bro, I think you really need therapy. Or maybe a mental hospital. Your jokes are getting better every day.
Aiden:
Shut up. I'm not joking.
Marco:
Wait… are you saying you got transmigrated and killed by a monster or something? Are you okay?
Aiden:
I'm kidding… kind of. I don't even know how to describe it. Everything felt so real. I thought I actually died. But then I woke up, and it felt like a dream.
But seriously, who gets transmigrated and hunted by some random monster? That doesn't even make sense.
Marco:
HAHAHA. You should turn that into a story. Who knows? Maybe you'll get famous one day.
But seriously though… where have you been? You're acting so mysterious lately.
Aiden:
I don't know anything, so stop asking so many questions.
Marco:
Yeah, yeah… whatever, Mr. Reborn. 😂 Oh by the way, did you check the link I sent earlier? What do you think of it?
Aiden:
Hmm… 9 out of 10. 🤭
Marco:
Damn right! It was really something, huh? 🤤
Anyway, do you want to meet up with the others?
Aiden:
Sure.
Marco:
Great. We're meeting at the city plaza at 11.
Aiden: 👍
He was lying on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling while his phone rested loosely in his hand. The dim light from the screen reflected faintly in his tired eyes.
For a while, he simply stayed there, massaging his temples as if trying to calm the chaos swirling inside his mind. Thoughts came and went endlessly, fragments of memories, questions without answers, strange images he couldn't fully grasp.
Time slipped by without him noticing.
Then his stomach suddenly growled.
"…Right."
He exhaled softly and pushed himself up from the bed. The quiet apartment greeted him with the same familiar silence as he walked toward the kitchen.
Opening the fridge, he grabbed a couple of hotdogs and an egg. Soon the soft sizzling of oil filled the small kitchen as he fried them in a pan. After that, he took two slices of bread from the counter.
Simple. Quick.
Hotdog. Egg. Bread.
He combined them and sat down at the kitchen table, eating while holding his phone in one hand.
His eyes wandered around the apartment.
Empty.
No voices. No footsteps. Just silence.
Ever since he moved out of his parents' house and started living alone in this apartment, he had gotten used to it.
He earned money writing stories online. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep him going. On top of that, he had also made a name for himself as a professional gamer.
Still… sometimes life felt strangely dull.
After finishing college, he honestly never imagined he would even make it that far, especially enrolling in one of the toughest schools he had ever heard of.
A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips.
But it quickly faded.
As he continued eating, he glanced at the time on his phone.
9:46.
His eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise before he shrugged it off.
His mind had already begun drifting again.
Thoughts spiraled endlessly, ideas, strange concepts, entire worlds forming inside his imagination. He pictured different possibilities of reality, stories that had never been written, characters that had never existed.
For a moment, he even imagined himself as some kind of genius storyteller.
He suddenly laughed quietly to himself.
"Seriously…"
Even he couldn't explain the strange worlds his mind kept creating.
After finishing his food, he shook his head lightly, forcing himself to stop thinking for a moment.
Because there were far more troubling questions in his mind.
Like how he had suddenly woken up in someone else's body.
And that creature.
Just remembering it made his body shiver.
He could still feel it.
That presence.
That fear.
It didn't feel like a dream at all.
He sighed heavily.
"…I don't get it."
Picking up his phone, he opened the internet.
The moment the page refreshed, countless posts, articles, and videos flooded his screen.
Chaos.
Just like Marco had said.
Apparently, the situation had escalated far beyond what he expected. Even their country had entered lockdown.
His brows slowly furrowed.
"…What the hell happened?"
He began searching through the internet, trying to find answers.
And when he did.
He stumbled across a video.
The thumbnail immediately caught his attention. It showed a dark street lit by flickering streetlights, with people running in different directions. The image was blurry, as if the person recording had been moving the whole time.
The title simply read:
"What is happening outside?!"
Aiden frowned slightly.
"…Another panic video?"
Curiosity still made him tap it.
The video started shaking violently as the person behind the camera ran down an empty street. Heavy breathing filled the audio.
"Stay back! Don't go near him!" someone shouted from somewhere off-screen.
The camera turned.
A man stood in the middle of the road.
At first, nothing seemed strange about him. His clothes were dirty and torn, and his posture looked… wrong.
His body swayed slightly.
Slow.
Unsteady.
Aiden narrowed his eyes.
"…Is he drunk?"
Then the man suddenly lunged forward.
Too fast.
The camera jerked backward as the person recording stumbled.
"Shit! Shit! He's coming!"
For a brief moment, the man's face appeared clearly in the light.
Pale.
His eyes looked empty, unfocused.
Something dark stained the corner of his mouth.
Aiden leaned back slightly, raising an eyebrow.
"Sheesh… it feels like this is scripted. Hahaha."
But as the man opened his mouth and released a low, broken sound.
Something between a groan and a growl.
Aiden's faint smile slowly faded.
The video suddenly cut off.
The screen returned to the comment section, which was already flooding with reactions.
Some people were laughing.
Others sounded genuinely afraid.
"This has to be fake."
"No way, something like this happened near our place too."
"My cousin said people started attacking others."
"Why are the police telling everyone to stay inside?"
Aiden stared at the screen a little longer before leaning back in his chair.
"…What the hell is going on?"
Outside the apartment window, the daylight remained bright and quiet.
Yet for some reason…
The world suddenly didn't feel normal anymore.