Even though my eyes were locked on the headlines, I wasn't really looking for anything in particular. The truth was, the motion of my thumb scrolling through the screen was just a distraction—something to keep me cut off from the world around me.
That way, I could avoid people trying to strike up conversation or asking questions I didn't want to answer. The sound of the train arriving and the growing chatter of people nearby only made me wish I were somewhere else.
"What's that, outside?"
While I was flipping through the news on my phone, a voice caught my attention. I looked up and saw one of the guys from earlier—the one hanging out with the group of girls and a few other friends—staring at the train window with a puzzled expression.
I followed their gaze and, when I saw what was beyond the glass, I was just as stunned as they were. Instead of the usual view of the subway's dark tunnel walls, what I saw was completely unexpected.
Outside, a strange fog blanketed everything, creating an eerie atmosphere. The train still seemed to be moving, but something about it felt off. Fog inside a subway tunnel? That didn't make any sense—at least, not to me.
Everyone, myself included, was frozen, not knowing how to react. As I stared out the window, something started to materialize in front of me, like a kind of floating screen. And on that screen... there was writing.
*Ding* – [Entry into the 87th World confirmed. Tutorial will begin shortly]
Before I could finish reading the message, a loud sound echoed in front of me. I turned toward it and saw the college students from earlier—every single one of them—collapsed on the ground.
I blinked, confused, trying to understand why they'd suddenly passed out, but my thoughts were abruptly cut off by a sharp, splitting headache that came out of nowhere.
I tried with all my might to stay awake and focused, but it felt impossible. The harder I fought to stay conscious, the worse the pain got—as if something inside me was trying to convince me to just give in, that resistance was pointless.
My vision blurred, and I felt my body grow heavier by the second, like gravity itself had flipped. In a matter of moments, I hit the ground, desperately trying to cling to some thread of awareness... but it was useless.
Everything went black, plunging me into complete darkness. The next thing I knew, I was slowly pushing myself up, one hand pressed to my throbbing head. It felt like I'd been slammed with something heavy—and the pain was unbearable.
"Ugh... Did I drink or something? This headache's killing me..." I muttered, my voice hoarse and muffled, like I was buried under a ton of weight. The words came out sluggishly, my brain still trying to adjust to whatever the hell was happening around me.
"...Wait, where the hell am I? Did I actually die or something? Is this... heaven?" I said, voice trembling, as I scanned my surroundings, trying to make sense of any of it.
All I could see was white. Just... white. The space around me was spotless—a vast, endless expanse of pale, lifeless white. No matter how hard I tried to find something, anything, there was nothing but that overwhelming void, stretching forever in all directions, like the concept of boundaries didn't even exist here.
"Wasn't I just on the train a few minutes ago? How the hell did I end up here?" I mumbled, confused and disoriented.
My eyes searched desperately for clues, for any hint that might explain how I'd wound up in this endless white space. Every time I tried to recall what had happened, the memories slipped through my fingers like mist, leaving me more lost than before.
And then, just as I was scanning the emptiness again, something unexpected appeared. There was someone else here. A girl—probably around my age—lying on the ground. She wore a skirt, sneakers, and a jacket that looked oddly similar to mine... Like me, but in feminine form.
And, just like me, she had jet-black hair that shimmered faintly in the light. Her eyes were closed, so I couldn't see their color, but even unconscious, she had a striking beauty that was impossible to ignore.
I cautiously stepped closer, circling her a few times. She didn't stir. I sighed, frustrated, and gently tried to wake her. After a tense moment, her body gave a small twitch—like a signal that she was starting to come to.
She stirred slightly before pushing herself up... and then she was standing right in front of me. But no—this wasn't a metaphor. I was literally looking at myself.
I raised my hand, slowly—and to my shock, she did the exact same thing. Like a perfect mirror. I locked eyes with her—and she returned the gaze with the same intensity. For a moment, everything else around us disappeared. It was like we were trapped in each other's stare, two reflections echoing something deeper.
I saw myself in her eyes, and that's when it hit me: her eyes were just like mine. Deep, dark brown—almost black. But then something strange happened. Both sets of eyes—hers and mine—glowed with an unnatural reddish hue, as if bathed in invisible light. The color was so vivid, so intense, that for a split second, it almost looked like liquid blood was flowing through our irises.
We blinked at the exact same time—a moment where everything seemed to vanish, like the world itself had taken a breath. When our eyes reopened, the red tint was gone. It was like it had never been there at all. Just a fleeting hallucination. Our eye color had returned to its original, steady dark brown.
"What the hell?" I muttered, my face twisted in shock—an expression mirrored perfectly on hers.
Two voices rang out at once—one male, one female. I stood frozen, completely lost, staring at the scene in front of me with no idea how to react. I was literally standing in front of myself. Had my body split in two? And why was the other me a girl? A million questions spun through my mind, and I didn't even know where to start.