Vroom...!

A bus bounced along the road as if it were running late, even going airborne at some points. The rough ride had the passengers tightly gripping the handles.

Today's the last day I’ll be taking this bus to school.

For the past three years, ever since Yongno entered high school, he had been commuting to school by bus. Of course, that was nothing unusual. Although he spent about an hour and twenty minutes on the bus each day, it was still relatively normal, considering some students wasted more than three hours making this trip on a daily basis.

However, despite that, there was something extraordinary about him.

Vroom...!

The boy in his late teens wore a school uniform, his hair kept in a neat style. One of his hands held onto his bag while the other held onto the handle. He had been taking this bus to school for the past three years. However, one day, he felt bored. He had enough of the repetition.

Swish.

He released his grip on the handle. The driver was speeding and steering the vehicle in jarring motions, yet it didn't matter to Yongno. In fact, he had been looking forward to this. He wanted to try to keep his balance on the shaking bus without holding anything.

In truth, it was quite a silly stunt.

Anyone could attempt to balance themselves on the bus with their hands in the air. When the bus turned the corner or suddenly sped up or slowed down, most of the standing passengers would plant their feet on the ground and stand firmly instinctually, finding the most stable way to avoid losing balance.

But, such a stunt should only happen once or twice. It wasn’t funny if one continuously did it on public transport; although, it might be a different story if one seldom rode a bus. Regardless, it was a silly action that ought to be stopped before reaching adolescence.

However, Yongno had already been doing this pointless act for three years.

At first, he lowered his center of gravity to maintain his posture. But, since he was in a public space, he wasn't able to lower his body too much, so he ended up on the floor of the bus, rolling around humiliatingly. Yet, within the next two days, he managed to adjust his stance and successfully kept his balance. Still, it was meaningless. Anyone could lower their posture and keep their balance. Besides, that pose had too many people staring at him.

Next, he used his joints to disperse the kinetic movements in his body. He lightly shook his ankles, knees, and waist sequentially to keep his balance. It took almost half a year for him to perform this skillfully and smoothly. This technique helped him maintain his balance without catching others’ attention, but unfortunately, doing this only allowed him to endure slight bumps. The rougher the ride, the larger the inertia. He would fall, eventually.

“This is it!”

Vroom!

The moment Yongno had been waiting for—a sharp turn on the bus route to and from school. He cautiously stood, and even his big toes and heels were firmly attached to the floor, just like a human bowling pin. However, he didn’t do this to maintain his balance.

Swoosh.

The bodies of those seated swayed all of a sudden; the standing passengers tried to resist the rapid swerve by holding onto the poles or grabbing the handles. Yet, at that moment, Yongno was standing rigidly. To the naked eye, he didn't move a single inch, but in reality, his body was working hard, and his cells moved with precision.

Shifting his center of gravity, Yongno slightly relaxed his muscles, but his body tilted to the side. That was when his right foot started to move, but it was too late! If he had kept his feet wide apart from the beginning, he might have retained his balance. Alas, he had stood at attention, which affected his center of gravity and his ability to maintain his balance. Now, even if he managed to grab onto the handle, he would still sway unglamorously alongside the bus' motions.

"Eh...?"

Staring at Yongno’s back, a passenger seated toward the rear of the bus groaned as Yongno’s upright body leaned forward at a 45 degrees angle. Yongno wasn’t just swaying with the bus' motions; he was almost at an angle where he would stumble to the floor. Unless Yongno performed a break-fall, he would roll all the way to the driver's seat. However, the moment his right foot landed on the floor...

Thok.

His tottering body stopped; the boy stood still as if nothing had happened.

Eh? What was that? Am I seeing things?

Having let out a subconscious groan, the passenger suddenly noticed the glances shooting his way. He waved his hand as a gesture to dismiss the situation but felt as though he was seeing “things.” What he just witnessed looked that unreal.

Oh, maybe I dozed off for a second. I’ve probably just been tired recently.

As an office worker living in reality, the passenger tried to derive logical reasoning from the weird scenario that had just taken place. However, Yongno cluelessly clenched his fist.

"Success.” The boy quietly exclaimed as a smile of satisfaction appeared on his face.

All he did was take a step forward––barely even moving his right foot twenty centimeters––but he made that achievement and found enlightenment after three years of effort.

Then, he continued, "Thank god I succeeded before my graduation. I should name this move 'No Change in One Step.’ Awesome."

At last, the bus arrived at the destination, and Yongno got off the vehicle with a big grin.

FUUU...!

In the blowing wind, a man with gray hair stood atop a tall building while a gentleman in his mid-to-late forties looked down at the ground with a calm gaze.

The gray-haired man clicked his tongue, "No internal energy... He doesn’t have magical powers either..."

Then, the gentleman spoke, his voice unable to hide his astonishment, "A person who has no idea about chakra or aether... an ordinary human, an ungifted kid... yet he was born with a Spirit Vein?"

"It's quite similar to the God's Step that only a limited number of Warriors in Black [1]were able to use. It also reminds me of Saulabi Warrior's Short and Quick Steps. But, of course, there's a huge difference between how they work..."

"What do you mean?"

"... It’s great that there’s a huge difference, but what shocks me is that his high skill level serves as a testimony of that significant distinction."

The empty background was pushed away like a piece of wrinkled fabric, revealing a boy. Pulling an oversized baseball cap over his eyes, the boy in his early teens lowered his gaze at the ground nonchalantly from his precipitous height.

He commented, "Amazing. He literally grasped the flow of energy and ignored the law of physics. Well, in our case, we’ve understood the 'reason' of the world, so we're able to notice it, but other talented people won't even get the fundamentals despite it being so obvious. Overall, he doesn't seem to have learned the gifts, but... unbelievable. How can he use only his 'sense' to accomplish such an advanced level of power dynamics?"

After living for a thousand years, he had come across countless people, but he’d never found or heard about someone like this ridiculous Yongno. Yongno was, of course, too fragile right now. He could easily kill Yongno if he wanted to. However, Yongno was...

"That boy is truly an unpolished diamond. Even the word 'genius' is an understatement. When you told me there was a dazzling kiddo, I was wondering who he was and how great his skills were, but his brilliance is beyond expectations."

Even if the bus crashed, the boy knew that Yongno would not have fallen to the floor. The single step that Yongno took was perfectly assimilated with the flow of the world.

"What do you think?"

"I'll follow your lead."

At the same time, their surroundings changed. To be precise, it wasn’t that their surroundings had changed. They had just landed on the ground.

"Holy moly?!"

Yongno was on his way home when he abruptly halted, surprised. Out of nowhere, a middle-aged man and what seemed to be an elementary school-age boy suddenly appeared in the originally empty spot before him.

"Hello? Nice to meet you," the kid greeted first, out of respect.

Yongno replied, "Uh, hi, what's up?"

"Congratulations! You won a prize in the event~!"

"What?" Yongno asked. He appeared dumbfounded by the sudden remark. What kind of crap is this? 

The old man responded, "It's a type of game. We're looking for beta testers."

"Is that why you called out to me on my way home? What’re the criteria?"

"You don't need to know."

The man's attitude was not inviting nor encouraging toward potential beta testers in any way. There was no amicability; it seemed as though he was giving an order. Moreover, they had just randomly started spouting in the middle of the street. Yongno looked around in bewilderment, but he soon realized that there was no one around them.

"... What? Where did all the people go...?"

Yongno was disconcerted as he clearly remembered that there had been many people walking along the streets. However, despite Yongno's reaction, the middle-aged man continued nonchalantly.

"You'll receive a package in a few days. The game CD and the connecting device will be inside."

Yongno inquired surprisedly, "A package? You don't even know my address, do you? How are you gonna send it to me then?"

The question didn’t bother the man in the slightest, and he continued, "The test will begin on the 15th at 10 pm. Install and run the game at that time."

"Hey, Mister..."

Yongno wasn’t sure if he should start yelling or just ignore them and leave. While he was in a state of confusion, the man tossed him a question.

"It's what we call 'virtual reality.' Aren't you interested?"

"Virtual reality...?"

Yongno looked perplexed. They were almost like those religious evangelists on the street who would randomly grab people and ask if they believed in the “Way.”

"Excuse me, Mister, I think you've read too many sci-fi novels. The cars are still driving on the road, not in the sky. Our technology isn't developed to that level," added Yongno.

Then, he let out a chuckle and turned around; in the end, he had made the decision to walk away. Although the two were out of their minds, they didn’t seem like the type that would resort to violence. However, at that moment...

"Dell."

The boy with a baseball cap replied casually, "Yes. Come out, Alice."

A blonde girl showed up in the empty sky. In a way that made it seem as if there was a glass screen placed in the air, a human silhouette tinted with various hues came to view. Yongno had seen this in a game before.

He stammered, "C-Cloaking...?"

"We call it de-visualization or transparentization."

A drop-dead gorgeous girl entered Yongno's sight. She had waist-length blonde hair, blue eyes, and a slender body while standing at more than 170 centimeters tall; her only flaw was her expressionless face. Other than that, her appearance was more stunning than that of any celebrity.

"Did you call for me?" asked the beauty.

Her voice sounded calm, but her appearance was unusual. She had a pair of black metal wings on her back. Her legs were also covered with steel boots, the same material as her wings. And above all...

"Is she... floating...?"

Yes, she was. Although it was just about thirty centimeters above the ground, the beauty was hovering in the air.

"Alice, bring out any of your weapons."

Alice replied, "As you command."

Alice, the beauty, raised her right hand. Her arms were exposed through the vest-like top, and it seemed like she would be cold wearing that in this weather. Her now-bear skin was as white as snow. At that moment...

Zoom––!

Her right arm began to deform with the sound of a motor spinning. Like a transforming robot in a blockbuster film, her silky smooth arm started turning into metal.

Krrrrr!

And in the blink of an eye, she finished arming her arm.

"Haha... hahaha..." Staring at the massive firearm in front of him, Yongno couldn’t help but laugh absentmindedly.

The kid in the baseball cap asked, "What do you think? Do you now trust that we have the technical skills necessary to create virtual reality?"

"Huh? Oh, yes... yes, sir." Yongno instinctively used honorifics as he replied to the little boy. He was that nervous.

The scene in front of him wasn’t fake or a scam. Unless someone had secretly fed him drugs, the beautiful girl hovering before him was made with advanced technology which transcended common sense.

"It's a closed beta test, but we aren't going to reset it or do something like that, so have fun with growing the characters. As I mentioned earlier, the package will be delivered to your house, so use the CD and interface adaptor to play the game," said the old man. Indeed, he sounded like a boss rather than a member of staff from their PR team.

The middle-aged man and the kid with the baseball cap turned around, then––

"Eh?"

Yongno stood bewitched, glancing at the crowd of people walking past him.

"What the heck is going on?"