episode_0002

As I set the constraints, I thought jokingly.

If sight, taste, and smell were to disappear and I were told to live as a vegetable, I might just die instantly.

Could I really live normally? Not being able to watch YouTube, not being able to eat delicious food, not being able to smell the fragrance of flowers… Maybe it would be happier to just comfortably euthanize.

Yeah.

It was just a joke.

It was just a fleeting fantasy, wondering what it would be like if a game character were like this. I really didn’t think at all that it would actually happen while idly daydreaming like that.

But it did.

I entered the world of the game.

If you ask why I thought that way, there’s only one answer.

I just knew. When I woke up from sleep, without any basis, but with a strange feeling of certainty that this place is a world in a game.

And even after opening my eyes, there’s no sight. A body that doesn’t feel like mine, a body that feels weak. Intangible things constantly flowing around me.

And.

“Aaaahh!”

A terrible pain that cannot be compared to any headache I’ve ever experienced before.

A searing sensation that felt like pouring hot metal into my brain invaded my head.

My body wasn’t healthy in my previous life, but at least my life wasn’t so miserable that I would receive genuine sympathy.

I had never experienced this kind of pain in my life.

This level of suffering was unbearable for me. I thrashed on the bed, my mouth involuntarily opened and a scream burst out.

“W-what, is this…!”

I saw myself thrashing. The bed I was lying on, the table next to it, the desk and monitor that had changed in position and type, the inside of the computer case, the steel frame and cement inside the wall…

The steel frame and wires inside the wall, the appearance of the neighboring house beyond the wall.

Blinking traffic light, glass windows reflecting sunlight, swaying grass leaves, people walking on the road.

The insides of people, their skeletons, muscles, organs, and blood vessels extending…

“Aaah…!”

Information about the circular area around me struck directly into my brain.

I don’t know this kind of sensation. I, who have received information through my eyes all my life, have never experienced anything like this even once.

When countless waves of information washed over my mind, a pain pierced through my head as if a needle were stabbing me.

“Aaaah!”

It didn’t come out. My mouth hung open. I was clearly trying to scream, but every time I did, my throat tightened, and the pain intensified even more.

“Why, why is this happening? Why does it hurt so much?”

Despite writhing in agony, my thoughts continued endlessly.

The answer was quickly anticipated.

Something in the form of an expanding sphere centered around me… everything within that range was grasped.

This is spatial perception obtained as an ability.

It matches the description of spatial perception confirmed in the game.

An overwhelming explanation of possessing spatial perception as an ability.

From the perspective of a mere human with only two eyes, obtaining all information directly from the expanding sphere centered on oneself was an absurd merit.

Especially in the vanguard where the battle is mainly fought.

But the problem is that my brain is not superior enough to process the information obtained from that spatial perception.

In short, the signal is being sent that my brain is in danger due to being bombarded with too much information.

Moreover, something intangible exists, flowing lightly somewhere, gathering and dispersing again, repeatedly.

This is magic. It’s the first time I’ve sensed this energy and information. Even this added to the pain as it came within the scope of spatial perception.

But since this kind of information processing is new, my brain doesn’t know how to cut off the information. So, the painful cycle of repetition continues.

“This, this damn it…!!”

That’s not all.

I’m not just a great person who can endure the pain of my brain being scratched, and I should have naturally screamed out loud, but I have another constraint besides the abilities of “spatial perception” and “magic affinity.”

“The curse of silence”

A simple and trivial restriction such as merely experiencing difficulty in speaking or at most a decrease in interaction is the only limitation.

I can’t scream. Ultimately, because screaming is a sound that comes out of the mouth.

Blocked by the curse of silence, just before all “words” are uttered, they are forcibly stopped.

The problem is that the words don’t stop gracefully.

They forcibly stop, causing pain in the throat.

It feels like someone is slashing my throat with a knife.

The pain is not only in my head, but it’s also spreading down to my throat.

In other words,

I perceive information through spatial perception.

↓

The brain suffers from excessive information.

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However, the brain, being a novice in spatial perception, doesn’t know how to filter information, so the pain continues.

↓

Screams burst out due to the pain.

↓

The pain afflicts the throat due to the “curse of silence.”

This state continues. The pain repeats. The silent screams that won’t come out are swallowed.

“I’m dying.”

At this rate, I feel like I might really die of shock. If this level of pain were normal, I should have fainted long ago, but strangely, I haven’t fainted.

Before I knew it, I was crawling on the floor. Twisting my body in agony like an insect.

“I’m dying.”

Without a voice, I can’t ask for help. If only I could scream loudly, maybe someone would come to help.

A cell phone? I couldn’t see a cell phone inside the house. Right now, I can’t even move properly, and at best, I’m just writhing on the floor.

“I’m dy…ing.”

The debate about euthanasia isn’t coming up for no reason. Being alive can be painful. That’s why one might wish for death.

That’s my situation. It may not have been more than 5 minutes, but it feels like my brain is going to fry. I even have the illusion that my throat, afflicted with pain, has become tattered.

It’s to the point where it could just be torn away. I’d rather be torn away and die like this…

Just dying like this…

…

“I don’t want that.”

It hurts enough to want to die. But when it actually comes down to it, I don’t want to die.

It’s a contradictory feeling, wanting to just die rather than live with this pain, but then not wanting to die when consciousness starts to fade.

There’s still so much I want to do.

I haven’t even lived half of a hundred years.

“Let’s think.”

Throat pain. The curse of silence is activated when screaming because the brain is in such pain.

The reason for screaming is that the brain is in excruciating pain.

The reason the brain is in pain is that there is an excessive amount of information from spatial perception.

“This is it.”

Spatial perception is the problem. If I can solve just this, the starting point of the chain disappears.

How should I deal with spatial perception? Whether by drastically reducing the scope or by letting the information flow.

Consciousness.

To decrease spatial perception, to disappear and just let the information flow.

Hoping not to recognize the useless, like the dust in the corner, the momentary spatial perception trembled unstably.

Soon, the perfect spherical shape unfolded, repeatedly folding and unfolding like a crumpled piece of paper.

Not a spherical shape, but triangles, squares, and pentagons. It became shapes that were hard to name, then crumpled again, and unfolded.

From a myriad of phenomena as if reading each cell, the view changed from looking down from the sky to a sight as if using night vision goggles.

‘…! …! …!!’

With the exponentially increasing amount of information in response to all the changes, consciousness eventually abruptly ceased.

* * *

“That was ten days ago.”

Even now, thinking back, it’s incredibly eerie.

It’s unfair to suddenly enter the game with no fault at all, almost dying as soon as you come in.

If I had died like that, I would never have been able to die a noble death.

Anyway. After fainting like that, waking up took exactly three days.

If there hadn’t been a voice alert on the old alarm clock, I wouldn’t have known how many days I had been unconscious.

“Phew…”

Soothing the boiling insides, I adjusted my spatial perception. The range where the room could barely be seen. Roughly about 5m in diameter.

Due to the distant pain, my memory was hazy and not exact, but when I think that the initial expansion was about 100m in size, it had shrunk to almost 1/20.

Perhaps consciously or unconsciously, in the process of minimizing the amount of incoming information, the size had decreased first.

Is it similar to cutting labor costs when a company is in trouble?

The problem is that cost reduction didn’t end there.

Taking a deep breath inwardly, I confirmed the world felt through spatial perception.

A world of black. Objects are only represented by green surfaces.

A color combination and form reminiscent of military radar seen in some media. They say bats perceive the world with ultrasound, is this kind of sensation.

Compared to the spatial perception at the beginning, which absorbed all information within the range, the class had decreased excessively.

At that time, even the information about the results of the cells in my muscles beyond a single speck of dust entered my body, but now I can only see the surface.

Moreover, it’s fixed in this state and doesn’t change.

You can increase or decrease the size to some extent.

But if you keep feeling spatial perception, honestly, you might get motion sickness.

“Damn…”

The first time… no, how surprised I was waking up three days after fainting.

As soon as I woke up, my stomach stuck to my back, and I thought my waist was going to break.

After almost bursting my brain and almost dying from hunger and dehydration, I still shiver at the thought.

Surviving without water for 3 days… It was a real crisis that could have turned into a real mirage.

It sounds strange.

I don’t know where this is, but there must be some food I can consume in the house.

Even if there isn’t, I can just go outside and buy some.

The problem is, I can’t see anything other than the outline, so I can’t distinguish what’s what.

I had to crawl around feeling my way with my stomach stuck to my back, and I was chased by the fear that I might really starve or die from heatstroke if I was too late.

“I think I’m going to get PTSD.”

I really feel like I’m going crazy…

My head still throbs. Not as much as ten days ago, but… still, if it were before, my head would have exploded, and I would have rolled around in a frenzy.

To develop resistance in this direction. I’m on the verge of going crazy.

Taking a deep breath, I looked at the table… no, I sensed it.

On the table, there were a few papers and a clock-like device in the package box.

Of course, being blind, I couldn’t see the package. If the delivery person didn’t tell me where it came from, I wouldn’t have known its identity.

Shiyoram (始搖籃).

The main stage of Act 1 in the play.

An island located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The world’s best superhuman training facility built around the central tower of growth located in the center of the island.

A facility equipped with the most advanced technology, combining magic and scientific technology.

High-quality lectures are conducted with active or retired superhumans from all over the world as professors.

Other than that, there is no shortage of educational institutions that can be introduced as the best in the world.

The annual number of new students is about 600 on average.

Among them, 90% pass the legitimate exam, and 10% enter through the recommendation of influential external forces and professors within the institution.

Neither of these methods applies to special admissions.

Special admission students do not need to take exams. They don’t need influential forces to push their way in. They haven’t received recommendations from internal professors.

They just need to bring their bodies.

“Ha…”

If this were a game, it would be considered a mere device for players to enter the stage… but if you think this is reality, it’s a bit bleak.

The problem is my special status as a target for special admission.

A deaf person who constantly wanders due to spatial perception and a chatterbox who will pay the price if he mutters too much.

At the same time, a blind man who cannot see properly and a terminally ill patient who will hear that he has only 10 years left.

Loss of taste and smell are just extras.

My condition is a mess.

As an educational institution boasting the highest level in the world, its lecture quality should also be at the highest level in the world.

Before entering, the question is whether I can handle the difficulty of those lectures.

“……”

But the answer is already decided.

“…I have to go.”

Confidence to endure tough conditions and eventually succeed? No, I wasn’t that confident person.

A guy whose life’s pleasure was watching YouTube and eating delicious food inside, growing plants on the veranda.

No matter what spatial perception, all-around beauty, or magic affinity I receive, fundamentally, I am an internet recluse.

Still, I have to go.

The thought I had while setting character constraints before coming to this world.

If I can’t even taste food without saying “pussy” on YouTube for my whole life, and can’t even smell anything, then what’s the point of living?

That thought remains the same. I think it’s better to just die than live like that.

But I don’t want to die. Why should I die?

It’s a simple problem.

It’s better to just die than live such a life. But I don’t want to die.

So, I want to live as I did before.

Is this just how the world is?

It’s a world in the game, but… isn’t it a world where magical abilities exist?

There must be a way to remove this constraint.

It was the same in the game.

The phrase “permanent” was often mentioned in the explanation of the constraint for a reason.

As the story progresses, there is definitely a way for the character to grow and throw off the constraint.

It is the most appropriate place to find such a method, and the best place to cultivate the power to find it is Shiyolam.

I made up my mind last night.

I nodded firmly and opened the box.

.

.

.

“But how do I get there?”

I hit a snag from the beginning.