The name came before I had fully decided on it.
I was still standing in front of the mirror, shirt off, staring at the window floating in the air between me and a reflection I had not yet made my peace with, when the thought surfaced — quiet and certain, the way right answers usually are.
I exhaled slowly.
"… How about Nova?"
The word felt correct the moment it left my mouth. Something about it — the suggestion of a new beginning, of light breaking from a source that hadn't existed a moment before. It seemed appropriate, given the circumstances.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then the panel flickered.
[ Window of Eden ]
Do you wish to rename this interface to "Nova"?
[ YES ] [ NO ]
"Yes."
The window pulsed — once, like a heartbeat finding its rhythm. The text dissolved and reformed.
[ Nova Initialized ]
I tilted my head slightly, studying the new label.
"… Hmm."
Then, because there was no logical reason to wait:
"Status."
• •
The air in front of me fractured open.
Not the gentle unfold of the original window. Something sharper — a clean break, like a screen cracking open from the inside. The interface that emerged was cleaner than before, the text crisper, the layout stripped of everything unnecessary.
[ Status Window ]
Name: Kim Tae-Joon
Class: ———
Status: Unqualified
Designation: Irregular
Level: 1
My eyes stopped at one word and stayed there.
Irregular.
Not Blank. Not Unregistered. The system had shifted its language, and the shift mattered — Blank meant the system had looked and found nothing. Irregular meant the system had looked, found something, and did not have a category for it.
"… So it's real."
I let out a slow breath. Then, steadily:
"Open skill window."
• •
For a second, nothing happened.
Then the interface flickered. Not smoothly — not the clean transition of a system executing a standard function. It flickered the way a light flickers when the wiring behind it is fighting itself: irregular, stuttering, like something was forcing its way into existence against resistance.
[ Warning ]
[ System Conflict Detected ]
[ Accessing… External Authority ]
"… External?"
The screen didn't open.
It tore.
[ Skill Window — Nova ]
PASSIVE SKILLS
Irregular Existence (Lv. 1)
You do not belong to the system.
▪ System restrictions partially bypassed
▪ Detection accuracy on user: reduced
▪ Unknown side effects present
Pain Conversion (Lv. 1)
Suffering is not wasted.
▪ Damage taken partially converted into usable energy
▪ Endurance elevated under stress
ACTIVE SKILLS
Fragmented Foresight (Lv. 1)
The future is not fixed — only broken pieces are visible.
▪ Brief glimpse of immediate future (0.5 – 1 second)
▪ High mental strain per use
▪ Cooldown: ???
LOCKED / CORRUPTED
■■■ ??? (Sealed) — Access Denied
■■■ ??? (Foreign Authority Detected) — Do not attempt forced activation
Unknown Link Detected
Source: [Unidentified]
Status: Dormant
I read through the list twice. My eyes kept snagging on the bottom.
Unknown Link Detected. Source: Unidentified.
My fingers twitched slightly at my sides.
"… What does that mean?"
The screen glitched. A single frame of wrong text, there and gone before I could fully process it:
Source: Kim Tae-Hyun
Then it was gone.
The room was very quiet.
• •
[ ERROR DETECTED ]
[ Primary Class Assignment Failed ]
Reason: Subject does not meet system parameters
…
[ Initiating Temporary Classification ]
Class: Abyssal-Type (Unique)
Status: Unstable
Authority: Limited
[ Skill Granted ]
Abyssal Intake (Lv. 1)
You may absorb and convert external energy into your own.
▪ Efficiency: Low
▪ Stability: Uncertain
[ Warning ]
Excess absorption may result in system rejection — or worse.
I leaned back against the wall, still reading.
Then I looked at my reflection again. The new face. The white threads in the black hair. The hands that had drawn blood with a careless touch.
"… Yeah. No way I walk into school looking like this."
New body. New face. New — apparently — everything. If I showed up tomorrow, it would be chaos. Questions I couldn't answer. Attention I couldn't afford. The kind of scrutiny that would unravel things I hadn't even had time to understand yet.
I exhaled slowly.
"I should take a leave. A month, maybe."
The thought settled with the quiet satisfaction of a sensible decision. Safe. Controlled. Time to figure out what I was before anyone else got to ask.
"… But what do I do until then?"
The air in front of me flickered.
[ Nova ]
[ Daily Quest Initializing… ]
"… Huh?"
[ Daily Quest ]
▪ Run: 10 km
▪ Push-ups: 100
▪ Sit-ups: 100
▪ Squats: 100
Time Limit: 24 hours
[ Failure Penalty: Thunderbolt ]
I stared at the panel.
Then I read it again, because the first read had to be wrong.
It was not wrong.
"… Thunderbolt."
I leaned slightly closer to the screen, as though proximity would make it more reasonable.
"Ten kilometers. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats — a hundred each. On day one."
I straightened up.
"… Yeah. Not happening."
I turned away from the panel.
The lightning hit me before I had completed the turn.
It was not a sharp pain. It was not a dull pain. It was the kind of pain that does not have a clean category — total, overwhelming, every muscle locking simultaneously as though the current had gone through the wiring and shorted everything at once. My vision went white. The floor came up fast.
I lay there for a moment, trying to remember how breathing worked.
[ Warning: Failure to comply will result in continuous punishment ]
"… You've got to be kidding me."
I dragged in a shaky breath. My fingers twitched against the tile. I stared at the ceiling and conducted a brief, silent inventory of my situation.