It all started a month before. No, actually two months before.

  …

  July 28, 2025

  On the peak of summer of which temperatures contrast greatly during the day and night.

  Basking in the scalding rays of the sun, two guys stood waiting for the pedestrian signal to become green.

  A few yards behind them stood a university gate and neither seeking the comfort of shadows of a building nor an umbrella, they bickered nonstop.

  “O’Neil! Have you heard?” A rambunctious laugh rang and I felt my friend’s heavy arm. The man said, “Xixi just published a new series.”

  Curious, I grabbed the phone from his hand.

  3 Ways to Survive the Wilderness filled with Monsters.

  “Huh? That trash finally made another story.” I smiled, though the name sounded vaguely familiar to a certain novel…

  “How many chapters does it have?” I asked.

  “Only 50 for now. I read it, it’s really great. It has harem too.”

  “What harem? A monster harem?”

  “No. Do you think of me as a degenerate like you?”

  “Who’s the pervert here?”

  Shaking my head, I sent my attention to my phone again.

  My name is Neil Merder. A freeloader who thinks all the time and has nothing except thoughts, and some hobbies such as reading. I’d hesitate to say my hobbies also include playing games, but everybody plays games nowadays. One way or another.

  Beside me is my classmate—Seo Ilhan, a muscular man with a few points of extra intelligence inherited from his parents.

  And yes, we’re friends. Though, I wonder how did I stoop so low to get a friend like this.

  Granted, he’s fun to be around. Plays some really good pranks.

  Still—looking backward, I could see why I would associate with a man like him.

  Years ago, we met upon an alleyway, hearing a woman’s scream. Both of us came to the rescue and was both promptly beaten by the local gang for interfering.

  It’s a fun story but at that point in time, I realized that the dream of saving a princess is a lie.

  When you hear a woman’s scream, it is best for you to look the other way. Otherwise, you can also quickly leave the area.

  Further action other than running is a foolish response stemming from countless generations of abided consumption of thousands of misguided literature known as romance.

  The next time I hear a girl screaming for help, I will run. You can bet on that.

  Anyways. Since then, we started hanging out.

  Playing with the same friends as I do. Eating with the same friends as I do. Going on trips when we’re free.

  Currently, we are university students, but our graduation was just around the corner.

  Our exams finished, some remaining hand-ins done today, we left the campus to eat some ramen.

  University is like high-school, believe it or not. You pass and you’re done. You get your degree. You also get older, yet the crowd remain the same, well apart from the few ancient looking individuals.

  We just left the gate when an accident happened.

  Unbeknownst to me, who was walking down the lane staring ahead. While we were walking down the middle of the lane, when my friend paused.

  “…I’m b-”

  Out of the blue, a car hit my muttering friend and he flew across the pedestrian lane.

  “I’ve never seen M*n of St**l before.. We should-” My eyes widened when I saw him get launched like a rag doll flying through the sky hitting a flagpole, performing 2 cartwheels, and doing a superhero landing into the river all at once!

  ‘Swish~’

  “Ilhan!” I screamed, my voice cracking. Adrenaline pumped into my system, turning my legs to lead as I hurried toward the riverbed.

  I shoved my bag aside, and stumble into the shallow side of the river. There, I dove to the deep end and grabbed his unmoving body.

  My lungs burning and my arms shaking, I tried to swim back to the shallows.

  I manage to do in time, struggling to get his burly body ashore. Inch by inch until we’re there.

  “Ilhan, you okay?” I slapped his face before looking for a breath. He was breathing, but totally out cold.

  Good thing is that his body is fully intact despite all that movement. The strange part? I didn't see a single drop of blood. Not on his shirt, not in the water.

  After a frantic few minute call to 911, I shifted my attention to this girl.

  Just after the accident, I saw the suspect coming out of a car. A beautiful lady who wears a sweet floral sundress that screams rich.

  Her eyes displaying a downward crescent. Her facial muscles rigid, seemingly as terrified as I was. Looking at her expensive car, a switch flipped in my panicked brain.

  “You! You just killed my friend.”

  Putting down my phone, my trembling fingers pointed at her. My tears leaking to the ground. Looking up, I shouted to the sky in despair.

  “Oh, Ilhan. Why must you leave this wonderful world at such a young age?”

  “…”

  “Give me your name and number, so we can settle this in court.” I was on my knees, hugging my best friend.

  “Don’t worry, Ilhan, I will make sure justice prevails.”

  “S-Sorry… Eek!”

  I almost fooled her, but then, my friend who was supposed to be dead started twitching.

  “I’m still alive…”

  “You should have stayed dead this whole time.” I whispered. “We can buy at least a few sponsorships in W*x**w*rld with this one.”

  “...What year is it?” Seo Ilhan asked again.

  What is this guy rambling on about? Don’t tell me this guy really lost his memory?

  “Look at him! He lost his memory because of you.” I pointed to the lady. “Oh, Ilhan..”

  “Sorry…”

  “What date is it?” This guy really kept asking questions. Would you die if I didn’t answer your question?

  “Fine. It’s July 28. You happy?”

  “Hm. One month left, huh?”

  “What are you whispering about?” This guy started speaking some suspicious terms after getting hit by a car. Moreover, why doesn’t this guy have any wounds at all?

  While we waited for the ambulance to arrive, I got this beautiful girl’s, Rachel’s number.

  “Hey, doesn’t your friend look fine?” She quipped.

  “He may look fine, but he is a man who’s deeply wounded inside.” I sighed, shaking my head.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “From the looks of it, your friend seems to be fine. Heart rate and blood pressure normal, and no signs of tenderness or swelling in his torsos. He should still get lab tests for internal bleeding, however.” The paramedic said, picking up his kit after checking Ilhan’s vitals.

  Weary, Ilhan nodded then declined their offer to take us to the hospital, opting to use my car instead.

  That’s strange seeing this man fly above 20 feet and plummet down the river 15 feet below the riverbank. Now, you’re telling me he’s fine? As expected, the wounds are deeper than we all thought.

  Easing the black lines on my face, I shook my head.

  He must have used up all his luck surviving that crash.

  We bade goodbye to the paramedics, then began walking to my car.

  “Hmph. So, you two are insurance scammers, huh?” We seem to have forgotten this young lady before us.

  “No.”

  “You think you two can fool me? Hey, come back you two!”

  It took a while, but we managed to get away from her. Of course, her accusations are false. Ilhan over here flew over like a superhero. Nobody can fake that without proper preparations.

  And certainly not the two broke guys from Minnesota.

  Living as poor as it gets, donating our hard earned money to the greedy corporations running gacha games like the geniuses that we are.

  If someone still thinks we’re scammers, we might as well use our brains to get a high-paying job instead of crafting ingenious plots like this.

  Groaning, Ilhan ruggedly shifting his torso towards me.

  “Ugh. Slow down.”

  “Sure. If you want yourself to die.”

  A brief pause between us before Ilhan spoke.

  “Do you believe that the world will change next month?”

  I gave him a strange look before laughing.

  What is this dog talking about? Are you saying that you’re a regressor? Do you think just because I read Korean slop that I will be delusional?

  But since you want to play this game…

  “What the hell are you talking about? Do you believe that the world will be encased in snow, heralding the ice age, afterwards everybody who survives gets superpowers?”

  “What?” Ilhan widened his eyes upon hearing the words I just said. His voice struggling, “did you also—”

  I cut him off. “Do you think I’ll believe you?”

  “Yes. Didn’t we all agreed to ride to the end?”

  “Alright.” The car gently stopping before the stop sign. I shook my head. “Go rest. You look off today. Maybe it’s because you got hit by a car. Don’t you think?”

  “If you don’t believe me, that’s fine. You’ll see it happen anyways.”

  “If you want me to believe you, then I’m gonna need some receipts.”

  “…Just you wait.”

  Looking grumpy, Seo Ilhan looked out the window, his eyes looking afar, deep thoughts stirring in his mind.

  We only spent the rest of the trip in silence afterwards.

  …

  The rest of the day moved quickly.

  Ilhan was tested after a half hour wait. Though nothing showed up in the each results, so we had to come back tomorrow for re-testing.

  I also ask the nurse whether he had any sort of temporary amnesia. To which Ilhan was asked to answer a few questions, yet found no sufficient results he had one.

  Now, everyone is confused and strangely looked at us like trolls who had nothing to do except bother other people.

  Even the nurse looked at us like we’re a bunch of wastes.

  Guaranteed, if I look closer I’d find something above her saying..

  -1 Reputation

  Miss I did not sign up for this!

  What a strange thing.

  I glance at Ilhan to find him looking back at me. His eyes crinkled. His mouth flat as if he’s smirking inside.

  I rolled my eyes in response. You’re really having fun with this, huh!

  Dropping off Seo Ilhan, I went back to my apartment.

  After I changing my clothes, I started preparing tomorrow’s lunch meal.

  Truthfully, I’m still shocked that Ilhan could survive that accident without any wounds. If I were in that place, I would die in an instant upon contact with a car going 40 mph. Could it be really…

  “Ah! Whatever.”

  With a disgruntled face, I finished tonight’s meal while playing my favorite mobile games before going to my room.

  On the front of my computer screen.

  After browsing for a few minutes searching for reasons how could someone survive a terrible crash, I switched to the chat program to browse through 50+ unread messages I haven’t looked into.

  North River: Has the new member joined already? It’s been a while since we got a new comrade @Qizong

  Qizong: Ah. She hasn’t been online lately. I’ll message her again. She should be online this week.

  North River: K.

  A bunch of thumbs up reacted to North River.

  I almost forgot about this, so I also sent a reply. Thinking about it… a new fellow—that adds up to a total of three e-girls in our group.

  Seems like the morale of the dogs in our group will be raised up a notch even more. I scrolled even further.

  Dowe: Anyone up for gold farming tonight? I have 300 bots running now, so I wanted to test if I can occupy one channel by myself, so they don’t get reported fast.

  Lemon: Right now? I can join. I’ll bring my 32 wave army to you.

  Qizong: @Dowe What? You used the money I gave you to cultivate 100 bots? You dog!

  Dowe: Hehehe. You deserve it after what you did to me. O my sweet thirty-seconds, if you are as steady as your brother North River, you wouldn’t have lost that baddie (demon face emojix2)

  Qizong: @%^~ come out your house and face me right now!

  Seeing the group as lively as they are, I wanted to share what happened, but scrolling down it seems that Ilhan had done so already.

  Shiny Pebble: Woah. Launching 40 feet in the air, I’d surely die (ghost face emojix2)

  Dowe: Plot armor(EX) equipment! Big boss. Can you pray for me today? I will need it to pass the test tomorrow(crying face emoji)

  Afterwards, Dowe sent three “preach” emojis.

  A bunch of ‘same’s appeared in the chat window.

  Crabbieboo: Brother dodo, is your zodiac a goldfish? Didn’t you also have ‘that’ on during the trip?

  Lemon, Miyuki, many others: Hahaha

  At the same time, lines of “crying face with laughing” emojis came, with Qizong giving the most emojis on the group.

  Dowe: F*ck you! Don’t mention my dark history!

  Dowe: You bunch of people who take joy on someone’s calamity. I will curse all of you to get hit by truck-kun to reincarnate as a male crossdresser in a world full of males who had achieved scientific progress of yang-yang copulation!

  “Chi~~”

  At this point, Dowe’s eyes must have turned moist. His eyes would be blank as if his soul was taken.

  Thinking of his glorious streak in Thailand, I also laughed out loud.

  Big Elder North River: (laughing face) Crabbieboo, let’s talk normal matters. @Miyuki does it not hurt anywhere?

  North River: Also who changed my name again! Was it you, dodo?!

  [Dowe has been restricted for 5 minutes.]

  Banned by North River who is our administrator since the start of the chat group’s conception.

  A bunch of laughing emojis followed the notification.

  If no culprit was found—Dodo, as the main troublemaker in the chat, will usually be blamed first.

  Being a group of longtime friends, everybody was in sync, and so…

  Dowe: North River, it’s not me! I promise this time it’s not me.

  Dowe private messaged him, but North River just ignored the message while typing in the chat box..

  Miyuki: Everything’s fine. Just needed to rest a bit. I might have internal bleeding, so me and Neil will visit the hospital tomorrow for re-testing.

  North River: Sleep is good. Hope everything goes well tomorrow.

  A bunch of messages, affirmations, and get well images followed after. I also sent mine.

  I played Wandering Waves for a bit before logging off to take my mind of the matters.

  Further thinking will confuse me more, it is best to rest to recover mental damage. After taking care of myself, I went to sleep.

  Although…

  2AM of the night, I didn’t notice that a message popped up coming from Ilhan himself.