East Valencia – Anchor Street
In a modest apartment, the piercing ring of an alarm clock shattered the silence of one of its rooms. It was 7:00 AM. The loud, incessant noise grated on the nerves of the young man lying in bed. He jolted awake, his eyes snapping open to reveal a look of profound confusion as he struggled to process his strange surroundings.
Leon's POV
Where… am I?
Yesterday was just a routine day, like any other. I woke up, went to university, and as usual, sat in the back row with my close friends. Then I returned home to lounge around, as was my habit, until night fell and I stayed up reading my favorite novel until I drifted off without realizing it.
So, how did I end up here?
I scanned the room. In the corner sat a small desk—it looked like a study desk, cluttered with scattered books and papers. In short, it looked like a typical desk for a student preparing for an exam. To my left stood a simple wardrobe, and there was the small bed I had been sleeping on. Everything about this place seemed like an ordinary room, but to me, it was entirely alien. This certainly wasn't my room, nor was it the room of any friend or acquaintance I had ever visited.
Swallowed by confusion, I climbed out of bed. As my feet touched the cold floor, I began exploring the desk first. I picked up a book with a blue cover, and a new wave of bewilderment hit me.
"What is this? A foreign language? Wait... why does it feel like I can understand what's written, yet at the same time, I can't?"
It felt as though I had forgotten something vital. It was an eerie sensation, especially since the book appeared to contain things like... magic circles and incantations.
"What a strange book."
I set it down and stepped out of the room. I was greeted by a clean, tidy living area. There was also... a television?
"Why does this TV look so odd? Is it even a TV?"
Honestly, the strangeness was starting to unnerve me. I needed to find out where on earth I was and who had brought me here. I moved toward another room.
"It's empty."
Completely vacant. No furniture, just four white walls. I closed the door and headed toward what looked like the bathroom. I turned the handle and stepped inside. After wandering for a moment, I looked up and caught my reflection in the mirror.
A wave of intense cold instantly surged through my entire body.
Thump... Thump... Thump... Hah... Hah... Hah...
My heart began to race, my breath hitching in my chest. In the mirror, I saw a face that wasn't mine—yet, for a split second, it felt as though it was. It was the face of a young man, seemingly eighteen years old, with average features, black hair, and black eyes.
Before I could process what was happening, a sudden weakness struck my legs, as if they could no longer support my weight.
I felt a crushing exhaustion, and then... darkness.
Third-Person POV
About an hour later.
Leon opened his eyes, staring up at the bathroom ceiling. His expression was vacant, as if he were contemplating something deep within.
Leon's POV
"I see."
I've been transported into... that novel I was reading yesterday? Or have I awakened memories of a past life? If so, why did it feel like I had amnesia this morning? I had regained my memories, and with them, the memories of a previous existence. Or perhaps I had merged with the memories of this body's original host, who shared my name... Leon. He was an orphan with no relatives, living alone and preparing for the entrance exam of Athelgard Academy. The circumstances of our lives were so similar it was disorienting.
"Did I awaken past memories? Or did I transmigrate into this body within that novel?"
"What the hell happened to me?"
If I truly was in that novel, I didn't recall any character named Leon. Most likely, he was a nobody—someone who failed the entrance exam or was expelled after failing a test.
Hmm. I took a deep breath and stood up. I returned to my room and sat on the bed.
"There are two possibilities: either I awakened past memories, or I've entered the world of that novel."
"It still feels like I'm forgetting something."
If the events of that novel were real, didn't that mean I knew the future?
"The future...?"
Suddenly, a shiver ran down my spine. I hurried to the desk, pulled out a notebook and a mana-pen, and began feverishly writing down everything I remembered from the novel, even though I had only reached Volume Five.
I lost track of time—perhaps an hour passed. I wrote down every detail: names of characters, their temperaments, their personalities, major events, key opportunities... everything.
Only then did a sense of relief wash over me.
But then, a flicker of fear surfaced. Was I being watched by some strange entity that caused this? Did a future version of myself trigger this phenomenon? Was it a god? In seconds, dozens of common tropes flashed through my mind.
"I need to calm down. Whether I transmigrated or just awakened memories, what I am experiencing right now is reality. My top priority is to confirm if the novel's events are truly real—though I'm almost certain they are, given that everything matches what I know about this world."
As that thought took hold, a tremor started in my limbs. "Hehehe." A low chuckle escaped my lips. Finally, my chance had come. A chance to escape my wretchedly ordinary life. Even my previous life was mediocre.
Average talent.
Average grades.
Average finances.
Wretched, average friends I hung out with just to feel like I wasn't alone in my mediocrity.
"Hahahaha!" Suddenly, I started laughing. I laughed so hard that tears pricked my eyes. They were tears of joy. For the first time in my life, I felt free. I finally felt that my destiny was in my own hands.
"The plot? The hero? The world? To hell with all of it. I won't waste this chance. I'll do exactly what I want, however I please. And if I die or the world perishes? So be it. Dying without regrets is far better than living a life of suffocating constraints imposed on me since the day I was born."