Avatar (1)
It was a phrase that summed up the present age in a single stroke.
And it was the fundamental reason society had fallen into chaos.
—A major fire has broken out in a commercial building in South Jeolla Province, and fire authorities are currently working to extinguish it.
—The arsonist fled the scene and has gone into hiding. The Ability Management Bureau believes it to be a random crime committed by an awakened individual before otherworld transfer...
“They’ve been especially frantic lately.”
I turned my head after watching today’s news blaring on the TV.
These days, wherever you went, incidents and accidents never seemed to stop.
Though it had nothing to do with me, shut away in my room.
‘Crimes of desperation before otherworld transfer, with its low survival rate. And even the chaos caused by those who return...’
As if mocking the doomsday theory that said the world would end in the year 2000, the world was still intact more than twenty years later.
‘No, intact is too generous. It’s a complete mess.’
The world hadn’t ended, but humanity had been forced to adapt to a new change.
And I was a victim of that transition period.
“......”
It had already been almost two years since I lost my family to an awakened person’s terror attack, became all alone, and shut myself away in my room.
Ding-dong—
A bell suddenly rang.
Limping on one leg that had become impaired from the aftereffects of the accident, I headed to the intercom.
‘Is it already that day...?’
A familiar person was standing in front of the door with a businesslike expression.
“Good day. I’m from the Transfer Investigation Division of the Ability Management Bureau. Are you Han Seonghyeon?”
The moment I opened the door and faced him, a businesslike voice came at me.
I’d met him a few times, but every time I saw that man, he always said the same thing.
“Yes... well, as you can see.”
Unfazed by my sullen answer, the investigator glanced back and forth between his electronic pad and my face several times, then immediately gave his farewell.
“Yes, your status has been confirmed. If you happen to awaken, please report it to the Ability Management Bureau. Then, have a good day.”
Click—
My exchange with an outsider for the first time in half a year ended in less than a minute.
—Since awakening and transfer happen at random, isn’t the problem that there’s no way to know who awakened and disappeared, or when?
—Legally, reporting after awakening is the rule, but when has the world ever run according to rules? We need a more institutional, fundamental solution!
Leaving behind the noisy voices of the panelists on TV, I headed to the kitchen.
‘Ah, come to think of it, I’m out of food.’
I opened the cupboard just in case, but as expected, only an empty space greeted me.
Clicking my tongue, I picked up my smartphone to order groceries, then simply put it back down.
‘...Forget it. I’ll just order delivery later.’
The accident had taken not only my family and my leg from me, but my courage as well.
Ever since that day, I had shut myself inside the house because of my trauma toward the outside, communicating with the world only through the internet and my one remaining friend.
Well, because of that, I got a confirmation call every month and an in-person check every half year. I’d have to put up with it.
—So what I’m saying is, this so-called transfer investigation has no practical effect! It’s nothing but the result of armchair administration...
—But we can’t just sit back and do nothing...
Returning to the living room, I used the TV noise as a radio and began the routine I had maintained for two years.
“Hoo, huff!”
All kinds of exercise equipment occupied one side of the living room.
They were things I had prepared for my leg rehabilitation, and since then, I had used them every single day without fail.
‘...No matter how much I do, it hasn’t had any effect.’
My body had gotten healthier, but that was all.
There had been no improvement whatsoever in the recovery of my leg, which had been the original goal.
Even though I knew it was useless, I couldn’t bring myself to let go and merely repeated it out of habit.
Because if I could overcome my disability, I felt like I might also be able to overcome my trauma.
Because if I gave even this up, it felt like I would have nothing left.
“Hooo...”
Overcome by a sudden sense of self-loathing, I put down the dumbbells and stared blankly up at the ceiling, sinking into thought.
How did I end up like this?
It wasn’t as if I was the only unfortunate person in the world, so why couldn’t I overcome it?
Why did my whole body tremble and sink into terror if I took even a single step outside?
If I had more courage, would anything have been different?
If I... could leave this room and go anywhere...
It was just as I was sinking into that swamp of self-torment.
《Dimensional inflection point detected. Connecting to the Akasha System.》
At the words that suddenly appeared before my eyes, I shot up from my chair.
《Awakening Unique Skill.》
“Huh? All of a sudden? Me?”
And soon, I fell into a panic.
Awakening an ability was practically the same thing as otherworld transfer.
But there was no way someone like me, who couldn’t even step outside the door, could survive in another world just because I had gained an ability.
As if my circumstances were irrelevant, however, letters continued to appear before my eyes.
《Awakening complete. You have awakened the Unique Skill 「Avatar」.》
《24 hours remain until transfer.》
And with those final words, I lost consciousness.
***
“Ugh... my head...”
My head throbbed painfully.
When I came to, it had already grown dark outside.
Feeling as if my throat were burning with thirst, I raised my aching body and gulped down water in the kitchen, only to suddenly realize something.
‘Huh? My leg got better?’
I slowly moved my leg this way and that.
It still hadn’t completely recovered, but it was much more comfortable than before.
‘Physical enhancement after awakening? If this keeps growing, couldn’t I make a full recovery?’
I stopped my wishful thinking and soon faced reality.
Even without the problem of not being able to go outside, what were the chances I could drag an impaired leg around another world, survive, grow stronger, and return?
‘Chances, my ass. I’ll probably die in some ditch before long.’
Plenty of athletes and special forces soldiers failed to come back, so what could I possibly do?
Of course, that didn’t mean I could simply sit down and give up.
“「Avatar」, huh...”
When I thought about my ability, the information engraved into my mind at the time of awakening surfaced.
“Even so, this is way too unfriendly...”
No, I’d heard about it before.
This awakening didn’t come with anything intuitive or convenient like a status window in a game, or detailed skill explanations.
As for physical abilities and condition, you had to figure them out by moving your own body, and for skills, all you had was the minimal information engraved in your head.
The direction of growth afterward was entirely up to the individual.
“Let’s try using it for now. I can’t get a feel for how much I can do with a clone.”
Using the ability wasn’t difficult.
I closed my eyes and used it according to what had been engraved in my mind.
Immediately afterward, I realized my Unique Skill had activated properly.
I slowly opened my eyes.
I was in front of me.
A shabby tracksuit, disheveled hair, and half-lidded eyes as if observing me.
I looked him over carefully from every angle to see if anything was strange.
No matter how I looked, it was me.
Even the way he moved his head this way and that as he observed felt like looking into a mirror.
When we both extended our right hands and shook hands, I felt warm body heat.
Clear proof that it was not an illusion, but possessed a physical body.
Then I suddenly felt something odd about my vision.
Because we had been focused on each other as if looking in a mirror, I hadn’t noticed it well, but my fields of vision were overlapping.
When we stood back to back, I became even more clearly aware of it.
Now I could see both forward and backward at the same time!
However, once I became aware of the separate body, moving became even more difficult.
Trying to move two bodies separately made my arms and legs get tangled, and the expanded vision made me dizzy as well.
It felt as if separate body parts that shared only a brain had appeared, making it extremely alien.
‘My brain increased to two as well, so why!’
But I had no choice but to get used to it.
Because this was the only way I could survive.
Growl—
...Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten anything today and had fallen asleep like I fainted.
First, let’s think while tearing into some chicken. I’m doing all this to live, after all.
***
A few hours later.
“Ah, this won’t work.”
As expected, it was impossible.
I had gotten used to it to some extent.
Now I could summon and dismiss it skillfully, and if one body stayed still, the other could move as usual.
But when I tried to move both bodies at the same time, I froze up here and there, and even then, all I could do was move slowly.
‘Before that, will I even be able to move properly outside...?’
If I had enough time, I might be able to get more used to using my ability, but there wasn’t much time left for me anymore.
“I have to prepare for the transfer now...”
I took out the items I had at home and the things I had ordered before practicing, then organized them.
Into a large bag, I packed survival supplies like a fire steel and multitool, a portable kitchen knife, preserved foods that were easy to eat, water bottles, and the like.
I couldn’t pack any serious weapons.
For some reason, weapons were restricted by otherworld transfer.
People overseas had even tried to bring firearms, but failed, and they had at least managed to find out that among cold weapons, something around the size of a knife was the limit.
An open-face motorcycle helmet that wouldn’t obstruct my vision, shin guards, vambraces, and safety equipment like a stab-proof vest.
I took out the things my parents had prepared before they passed away and put them on one by one.
Since no one knew who would be transferred and when, they had obtained them in advance and put them in the storage room.
‘I never thought I’d actually end up using them...’
Realizing I hadn’t contacted my only friend, I called him, but he didn’t answer.
Come to think of it, he had said he wouldn’t be reachable for a while because of work.
It was unfortunate, but I had no choice but to send him a message saying thank you for everything until now, then put down my phone.
Finally, I calmed myself by looking over information on a site that had compiled knowledge about other worlds.
The otherworld one was transferred to was random, and there were already hundreds of known worlds, so there was no way to know exactly where I would go, but it would be better than knowing nothing.
Anxiety about an ability I was still unskilled with and lacking in.
Worry over whether I could adapt in another dimension, not merely outside.
Even so, the almost desperate urge to survive somehow threw my mind and body into turmoil.
At the moment I was calming myself and taking deep breaths.
A transfer circle glowing blue had appeared beneath my feet.
《10 minutes remain until transfer.》
I stared down at the otherworld transfer circle beneath my feet.
If I stood on top of this and 10 minutes passed, I would be transferred to another world and would struggle to survive in that unknown place.
‘They said that while you’re in the otherworld, your body’s aging follows Earth’s time, right? If I can survive, it’s definitely a benefit.’
The flow of time differed for each world one was transferred to, but on average, it was said to be about 1:10.
‘...They said it usually takes one year to return, which means surviving about 10 years in the otherworld. Ha... 10 years. You’ve got to be kidding me.’
Thinking that, I stepped backward and unknowingly moved off the transfer circle.
Then the transfer circle, which had been shining blue, slowly began to emit a red light.
A red transfer circle was no different from a warning.
If time ran out in that state, it would forcibly send the awakened person to another world.
Leaving behind all the carefully packed luggage I had prepared and sending me with only my bare body.
Now that the situation was actually right in front of me, my mind grew troubled again.
It suddenly occurred to me that, in my confusion, I hadn’t reported my awakening to the Ability Management Bureau, but who cared in the current situation?
I immediately erased it from my mind.
‘Ah... I wish someone would go stand there in my place...’
Of course, it was nothing but a meaningless thought.
It had been over twenty years since awakening and otherworld transfer began, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that people all over the world had tried every possible method.
Even if someone else stood on it, the transfer circle would remain red, and it would ignore the person standing on top of it and forcibly send the awakened person themselves.
An otherworld transfer circle recognized and operated only on the awakened person themselves.
Then suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.
‘Could it be... No, there’s no way. But maybe?’
I immediately used 「Avatar」.
Unlike me, who was armed to the teeth with all kinds of supplies, the summoned avatar was still in the same shabby tracksuit as at first.
Recalling the sense I had practiced until now, I moved it, and the clone awkwardly climbed onto the transfer circle.
And soon, the color of the transfer circle began to change.
“It works! It work...ed?”
The light of the transfer circle seemed about to turn blue, but then stopped halfway.
I looked at the transfer circle glowing purple and let out a disappointed sigh.
‘Of course. There’s no way it would be that easy.’
I was curious what would happen if time passed in that state, but I had no intention of experimenting with it myself.
If something went wrong, my already rock-bottom chance of survival would converge on zero.
I thought I had tried it with the attitude that it would be nice if it worked and fine if it didn’t, but it seemed I had unconsciously gotten my hopes up a lot.
My legs gave out from the disappointment, and I plopped down where I was. When I looked at the clock, there were only 5 minutes left.
There really was no time left.
Now I had to steel myself and step onto it.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took one final deep breath.
And in my “vision.”
I saw myself, heavily armed, sitting there with my eyes shut.
With one side’s vision restricted, my attention naturally shifted to the other side’s vision, and before I knew it, most of my mind had concentrated on the avatar.
And the transfer circle began to glow blue.
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