In a white room, there was a young man lying on a narrow bed with his eyes closed. His head was wrapped in a white cloth, and his left hand appeared to be connected to a tube, likely a water line.
His eyelids twitched. Slowly, he opened his eyes, staring blankly upward before moving his pupils to look around. The room was white, with two windows, a few chairs, and a table right next to the bed.
Gill used his pupils to observe the surroundings. He couldn't move his limbs; his whole body was in excruciating pain—even the slightest movement of his hand was a struggle.
He began to question himself. Looking around, he had no idea where he was. The room felt very unfamiliar and strange.
'Where am I?'
Trying to turn his head for a clearer look at his surroundings, he immediately felt a sharp, electric-like pain shooting through his head. It pulsed violently, causing him to let out a silent groan.
Enduring the pain, he kept trying to scan the room. It was nicely designed yet simple, with the furniture he had noticed earlier. Eventually, he was able to take in the entire room more clearly.
A metal pole stood beside the narrow bed, holding a transparent bag filled with liquid. A tube extended from the bag to his hand. When he looked at his left hand, he realized the tube was inserted into… his flesh?
Uncertain of what it was, he reached out with his right hand to touch the tube. Suddenly, an image flashed in his memory—he had been in an empty space that seemed to reflect the structure of the universe. Something small, like a star, glowing with strange light like polished metal reflecting sunlight, was heading toward him at the speed of light.
The last thing he remembered was that object crashing into him, shattering his body to pieces and destroying the space around him.
As he recalled the memory, his body shivered involuntarily. What was that object speeding toward him? He tried to push aside the unsettling thought of his body being torn apart. Forcing himself to sit up despite the pain, he reevaluated his situation.
'Wasn't I supposed to be dead? Where am I? What exactly happened to me?'
Question after question filled his mind, yet none offered any answers.
A creaking sound broke his train of thought. Looking toward the front, the room's door opened, and in stepped an adult man wearing a white coat.
With black hair and a slightly aged face, the man held a white paper in his hand. Feeling someone's gaze, the man looked up, and their eyes met.
Suddenly, Gill grew alert. He didn't recognize the man before him, nor did he recognize this strange room. Remembering the tube attached to his hand, he quickly looked down at it.
At that moment, a thought entered his mind.
'Was I captured and imprisoned?!'
Looking back at the adult man—who also appeared surprised—Gill felt a chill down his spine. He tried to move his aching body, pushing himself with all the strength he could muster. But his body was far too weak and painful.
He had no idea what had happened to him to leave him in such a fragile state. With nothing clear around him, the first instinct that came to mind was to escape as far as he could. However, due to his extremely weak condition, instead of successfully fleeing, he collapsed painfully from the bed as he tried to run.
*
After cleaning herself up in the hospital bathroom, Volia went to look for her daughter, who had been searching for a place for them to wait in the crowded area. Seeing a beautiful young woman waving at her, she walked in that direction.
When she arrived, the young woman spoke while pointing toward a certain spot.
"Come here, Mom... Dad is already waiting for us there."
Volia nodded and walked with her daughter toward the spot. As they walked together, she heard something that made her stop in her tracks.
Turning toward the sound, she saw a wide screen displaying moving images. The voice had come from that direction.
"A sudden earthquake occurred in the Bureu district. We've received information that the quake was something not detected by the system, and it only happened around sectors 5 and 6 of central Bureu."
"We've also received information that it might not have been an earthquake, but rather a strange natural phenomenon. At this moment, we cannot provide any definite information. We will update further when the time comes...."
Another voice came from the side, pulling her attention away.
"Mom...?"
She replied and continued walking.
"Oh. Yes, let's go. Dad must already be waiting."
They continued walking through the crowded hall.
'Looks like the hospital is crowded because of that incident, but was there really no announcement at all?'
Even though she was aware of the earthquake—since she had felt it herself—she didn't know there hadn't been any warnings or announcements in the affected areas. She might understand not receiving any alerts, since she had been outside in an open area like a park, especially one located far from nearby residences.
Although District 5's park was located in the center, it was actually a newly built park in the middle of a forest. Since a portion of Bureu's District 5 was still forested and under development, only a few buildings had been constructed as outposts there.
As she walked, she couldn't help but reflect on the news she had just heard.
'Why are strange events happening lately? Are they messing with us? These people are getting more annoying by the day, always giving out unclear information.'
Lately, over the past few days, events that had never occurred before were happening in this world. More precisely, events that couldn't be predicted by the system that governed this world. Normally, when a natural disaster or phenomenon occurred, the system would be able to predict and warn the nearby residents within a day or two in advance. But now, that system seemed to be failing—or perhaps had an error—making it incapable of predicting or notifying people about natural occurrences.
Like the earlier event—an earthquake in sectors 5 and 6 of Bureu—that left residents panicked and unable to evacuate, and caused Volia's child to become a victim. Even if the disaster was small and happened in a limited area, it was still an important matter for the safety of the people nearby!
Suppressing her emotions deep within her heart, Volia continued on toward the place where her husband was waiting.
After a few hours of waiting with her husband in the quiet corridor, which had a few chairs to sit on, the sound of footsteps approached them.
A man with short black hair, sunken eyes, and a slightly wrinkled face appeared. He was wearing a white coat and holding a white paper in his right hand. He walked toward the three people waiting there.
As the man in the white coat approached, they—Viona, her husband, and her daughter—stood up from where they were sitting. The man glanced at the paper in his hand and spoke to them in a neutral tone.
"We've stitched him up, and yes, perhaps due to a very hard impact, he may have a slight brain injury... and..."
Feeling disturbed by the doctor's words, Viona interrupted him, her face anxious and her voice worried.
"And what? What happened to my son? What is it..."
Rinhart, her husband standing next to her, held her hand gently and said softly,
"Calm down, let him finish first."
Turning to look at Rinhart, Viona nodded and took a deep breath.
Seeing that she had calmed down, the doctor continued.
"Because it seems his head was hit quite badly, he might lose his memory for a while, or possibly... forever."
Upon hearing this, Viona's body trembled uncontrollably. Then she fell onto the metal chair behind her.
Rinhart, who was beside her, quickly caught her. Ciel, her daughter, also helped comfort Viona, her mother.
Rinhart looked at the man and nodded slightly in response.
The man understood and nodded in return, speaking as he turned to walk away.
"If you wish to visit him, come with me. I'll show you his room. He's still unconscious right now."
Still sitting with a sad expression on her face, Viona took a deep breath, exhaled, stood up, and spoke in a voice filled with sorrow and relief.
"It's okay. What's most important is... he's still alive. Even if he has completely lost his memories, we'll start over from the beginning."
Standing up, the three of them followed the man in the white coat.
They walked down a quiet corridor, lined with doors on the left and right, each marked with a number. As she walked, Viona thought again about her son.
How could her son end up like this? He was just a cheerful teenager—quiet, kind, and never complained about their poor family situation. What sin had he committed? What he truly deserved was good fortune, not such a cruel fate.
Lost in thought, they finally stopped in front of a particular room. On the side of the door was a sign that read: HNS 23.
They paused for a moment. The man in the white coat opened the door. As he stepped inside, he suddenly froze like a statue—and then a loud 'thud' echoed from inside.
Sensing something was off, Rinhart asked him,
"Is something wrong?"
*
"Ouch... that hurts so much."
That was all Gill could think at the moment. His weak body refused to move. After clumsily falling off the narrow hospital bed, he lay there motionless.
His body felt weak and unfamiliar—completely different from what he remembered. He was like a baby learning to walk, unsure of how to use his own body.
His strange and fragile form felt foreign to him, as if it wasn't his. Trying with all his might, he used every bit of strength in his arms to push himself up.
Suddenly, a voice startled him. The voice was strange, foreign—he couldn't understand what was being said.
"Hey, stop, calm down."
The language was alien to him. He couldn't make out the meaning of the man's words. It was like listening to the sounds of animals or creatures he didn't recognize—the sounds went in one ear and out the other without registering in his mind.
Becoming more alert and suspicious of the man, he tried even harder to escape.
That was when another man entered the room. He was tall, about 185 cm—considered tall by human standards.
He had a decent appearance, though not extraordinarily handsome. His black hair was neatly combed to the right. A short beard framed his tanned face, and his eyes were a deep brown. He looked to be in his early 40s. His clothes were strange—a wrinkled pair of gray pants and a black shirt that didn't match. Even so, he had an air of elegance.
This man looked at Gill with a worried expression and spoke in the same strange language as the man in the white coat. Again, the words were meaningless to Gill, passing through his ears without understanding.
The strange language frightened him even more. He kept trying to move, struggling even harder, but his unfamiliar and weak body barely responded.
Gill looked at them with fearful eyes—an instinctual fear, the kind that came from encountering the unknown.
His eyes widened as he saw two more people enter the room. This time, they were women—and they too spoke in the same strange and foreign language!
Seeing them, his half-upright body collapsed again. Groaning in pain, he looked at the man in the white coat and the three others behind him approaching. He tried to stand once more, but it was all in vain. The man in the white coat reached out and touched him, speaking in that same incomprehensible language again.
"Hey, calm down."
Seeing the man's hand on his body and hearing his voice, Gill started thrashing around, trying to break free from his grip. He opened his mouth to scream something.
But when he tried to shout, the sound that came out startled him—it was completely different from his old voice. What he used to have was a soft, gentle voice, pleasant even when raised.
But... this voice was much sharper, higher-pitched, and piercing. He paused, stunned, trying to process what he had just heard.
'Was that... my voice? Why does it sound so different?'
Driven by panic, he pushed himself even harder, trying to stand and run with all his strength. He believed these people had done something to his body—had changed him somehow—and that made him even more terrified.
But before he could do anything, he heard another command in that strange, foreign language.
"Sedate him."
Right after that voice spoke, his vision started to blur—and within seconds, he was unconscious, lying there once more.