*crackle… crackle…*

I suddenly open my eyes to the crackling of fire around me, the first thing I saw was a wall of black fire rising up to the sky, and looking around me, I realize it’s not just in front, but all around me.

*crackle…crackle…*

The same wall of fire is surrounding me from all sides, without a chance to look further.

“What the hell…”

*AHHHHHHHHH*

*HEEEELP!!!!!!!!*

*MOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!*

*GABRIEL!!!!!!!!!!!*

Suddenly, voices of kids, women and what seems to be old people start to sound from over the fire. I try to see, but I can’t. I try to stop the fire, but I can’t. It doesn’t listen to my will. I know what is this fire. But I can’t do anything about it. It doesn’t listen to me. It just stays there. Crackling.

*Sounds of screaming and desperation*

The voices don’t stop, they only increase. There’s more people, screaming louder and louder, and there’s nothing I can do. I try to jump over the fire, but there’s something holding me in place.

Is it fear?

“Fear? Why would I fear these flames? Why would I fear death? Why can’t I move? Dammit.”

“Of course you can’t”

A sudden voice woke me up from my wondering.

“You, we, wanted this. You’re right. You’re not afraid to die. We never were. That’s not why you can’t move. You know it as well. Because we’re the same.”

“Would you shut up?”-I answer as I try and try harder to reach the screaming voices over the fire, but it doesn’t matter how hard I tried, my body didn’t listen to my will.

“Stop trying. You know you won’t move. You DON’T want to move. Or may I say, you didn’t want to?”

“Shut up.”

(Move. Dammit. MOVE!)

“No matter how hard you try. You won’t move. Are you truly pretending not to know where you, we, are?”

“I SAID SHUT UP!!!!”- I scream as I sit down on the couch.

*panting… panting…*

“…”

I look around and see the same room I was in before falling asleep.

“…Fuck, it was just a dream… Thankfully, these walls are really thick.”-I said, looking down at the floor, with my elbows resting on my legs and my hands supporting my head, closing my eyes.

*drip… drip…*

“…huh?”

I open my eyes to look down again to see water droplets falling on the floor.

I was drenched in sweat.

“I should probably take a shower.”

I extend my hand to grab the smartphone that’s beside the laptop on the table in front and see its screen.

“15:45? I guess I did sleep a little longer than I should had.”-I said, finally standing up with the phone in my hand, going right into the bathroom.

After getting out of the shower, I grab my rucksack from next to the coach and go to the bed, which, by the way, I haven’t used since the moment I stepped inside this place. I’ve been basically staying and sleeping on the couch.

“What am I? Some kind of husband that fought with his wife?”

I put on some training clothes I brought with me, merely some black jogger pants and a red wine color sweatshirt over a plain black t-shirt and go outside.

“Better take a look around this place. I should probably know where every facility is, don’t want to get lost later.”

I start going around Cube, running at trotting speed while trying to memorize every facility I pass by.

“Is getting late already.”

It was almost 19:00 when I finished trotting around Cube, I tried to go every way I could possibly pass by, just to memorize the facilities of the place.

Let me say one thing first. This place is huge. I never thought it would take me that much time to go around the place. Of course, I didn’t run that fast, but still. It is amazing how all this place is just for a three years course.

There are so many things here that you probably wouldn’t need to go out in all three years if you wished so. There may be things you can’t find here, but honestly, if there’s food, a place to sleep and a smartphone to read things online, I’m set for years.

And here in Cube you can even find a training center, with really good equipment, and some more things. I even saw a department store, so even clothes and a few other things could be bought here, maybe for cadets that are tight on budget.

Now I start to see why they call this the best training place for future heroes.

I was tempted to go to the training center to test a few things there, after all, it was all equipment meant to be used by superhumans. But I decided against it after seeing so many people inside.

“Better go later, maybe after midnight.”-I said to myself as I go inside the dorms and right into my room.

I start looking for something to eat, and remember that I haven’t bought anything, so my fridge is as good as empty.

“So that leads me out again.”- I said, closing the fridge’s door.

I then go outside again to buy a few things I’ll need to eat, and others to keep for the coming days.

After coming back, I made some fast dinner, just a sandwich and a can of coke, and sat again on the couch, looking at my laptop, to see what will I do starting Monday.

“Ok, until now, what I do know is that I will help Hajin, how, that depends on the next decision I’ll make. Do I tell him about me not being part of this world? Or do I just play it safe and keep quiet?”- Honestly, I’m pretty much tempted to say the true to him.

That way, we could work things out better. You know? Like knowing there’s someone going through the same shit as you. It somehow helps to make things easier. “You’re not alone on this”, is amazing how that mere thought could help you go through hard times.

But on the other hand, what changes would I bring the future if I do confess that to him? Maybe all will go astray if I say that I know him, and everything that’s going to happen?

“Wait. Maybe I don’t have to tell him the entire truth.”- Thinking about it, I never had to lie about knowing about the “novel”. After all, ‘The Novel’s Extra’ is basically “based” on another novel, “Returner Hero”.

“I just need to tell him about me reading ‘Returner Hero’ one night and suddenly waking up here. It is somehow a distorted truth, but a truth nonetheless.”

Also, that could explain any missing knowledge I may have on the novel that only him, as the author, has. I could also cooperate with him; as I haven’t “finished” the novel because he didn’t end it up before getting inside here, is perfectly normal for me to ask for help to the original author.

About other things, like my power, guess I’ll just have to be sincere and tell him a few things about me, mostly that I was already like this before coming here.

“Yes. Right now, that seems to be the best path to follow. I will be able to help him from a closer standing, and he’ll have some support going forward as he will not be the only one trapped here.”

That leaves Hajin out of the question. Now, what about me, and my interaction with the rest of this world?

“Guess I’m going with the typical cliché of hiding my powers. After all, I don’t want to bring too much attention to me. If for anything else, just for Hajin to end up with the lot that will appear later. Though I only have to stop showing any kind of anti-magic power and it would be safe.”

That leaves me with the easy way, I just have to keep myself clear from any trouble that would happen, while I give some advices to Hajin. Maybe also train him a little bit. There’re some things he could do to gain more power.

“Now… How do I get close to him and tell him the half-truth? After all, Kim Chundong isn’t an important character, so it wouldn’t make any sense for me to get to him and start saying things like ‘I know you are the author and this is your novel’s world’. That just would be pretty much stupid.”

After thinking for a few minutes, I got nothing.

*Sigh*

“I got nothing. There’s no way I could simply get to him and say something like ‘I know who you are’.”-After giving up for the moments, I look at my smartwatch, which I barely use, to see what time is it.

“22:00 huh… Maybe I should start going to the training center to let off some steam and check the facility.”- Standing up, I go to grab some water bottles from the fridge and put them in a bag to take to the training center.

“Maybe while I train something will come to me. Hopefully, because I’m empty of any other idea that could work.”-I said, going right to the door to leave my room.

The walk to the training center is short, so there’s really no much to say, just that you could see a few female and male cadets going and coming from the dorms.

After all, they could only interact until 22:00, so a lot of them are going back to their room after being with their friends for a while.

“Is good to be young. Not that it matters when you go past the hundred years and still look like a twenty-something.”-Think to myself while going to the entrance of the training center.

“Rank 915th, Cristopher D. Lamas, Confirmed”

A robotic voice sounded just as I put my smartwatch against the door’s electronic lock. I enter the Novice Training Facility, and what I see did gave credit to the “Best Hero Training Center”, Cube.

It was a really big space, with all kinds of machines, magic devices and some traditional training equipment, that I suspect are somehow amplified to adapt to superhumans standards.

“Well, what will I start with?”-Looking around, I search for something to start with. And find it almost right away.

“Nothing’s better than the basics.”-I think as I go to the treadmill.

I start it, first at a speed of 20 Km/h.

“Mmmm… this is relaxing, but not enough speed.”- I think as I slowly start going faster and faster.

I was soon running on the treadmill at 70 Km/h. I put the timer to 30 minutes, at this speed, I shouldn’t have any kind of problem.

While doing so, I could sense around me a noted that there were still some cadets here, everyone was doing their own thing, some where lifting weights, others, like me, where running on treadmills. There was even someone entering the gravity chamber, a perfect training magic device for sharpshooters who need to move fast.

Thanks to me having back my body, I didn’t need to use my eyes to see, I could perfectly grasp everything around 100 meters around me. Giving me a perfect view; or “sense”, to be more precise.

The cadets here are not that strong, and I can’t see any of the principal characters. Not even some of his friends. They should be together somewhere or already going back to their rooms, well, maybe only Kim Suho would be here.

After all, It’s the first Friday after school’s beginning. Only training masochists, desperate cadets, and people with really nothing else better to do, like me, would be here at this hour.

After going for 30 minutes, I grab my towel and dry the sweat off my head and neck while going down the treadmill.

As I look around, I see that there’s almost no one here apart from me. Just as I was having that thought, I sensed someone coming out of the gravity room, it’s a girl. While she’s not as hot or beautiful as Chae Nayun, Rachel or Yoo Yeonha, she was still a beauty in all her rights.

She seemed to have sensed my glance, as she turns to look right at my eyes. She has somewhat keen senses. We’re almost 100 meters apart, and I just barely glanced out of the corner of my eye.

“Well, maybe I’m just overreacting and she merely looked at me as I’m the only one at the gym right now.”- I thinks as I go my way to the weights. I have to see what do they have here to train.

Right on cue, as soon as she sees me going over the weights, she turns her head away and go to the treadmills.

“Mmm… Not sharp senses then. It seems like she is going for a run after her training. Not like she was in the gravity chamber for too long, maybe 4 minutes?”- I think, getting the bars and looking for some weights to add.

After putting 500Kg to each side, I lay my back on the weight bench to start lifting, to do some series of 10. And at the end of my first round, it hits me.

“RIGHT! STATS! How couldn’t I think about it before? I just need to say that I noticed some weird change, the same as me, and start from there as he confesses himself not being part of this world, to which I could tell my version of the truth.”- I think right before starting the second round of lifting.

After getting home I look at my laptop, thinking if I should try to tinker with it a little or something. But seeing as it’s already late, I head right to the shower and go right inside after wearing off my clothes and putting on some music.

“♪♫♬♪♫♬…MUSIC INTRO, GUITAR RIFFS AND SYNTHESIZER SLOWLY GOING UP IN VOLUME…♪♫♬♪♫♬”

“…”-I turn on the knob and let the water fall over my nodded head.

“♪♫♬♪♫♬…I DON’T KNOW WHO TO TRUST, NO SURPIRSE; EVERYONE FEELS SO FAR AWAY FROM ME…♪♫♬♪♫♬”

“…”-I slowly let the water clean away all the sweat from the training I just did.

“♪♫♬♪♫♬…HEAVY THOUGHT SIFT THROUGH DUST, AND THE LIES; TRYING NOT TO BREAK BUT I’M SO TIRED OF THIS DECEIT…♪♫♬♪♫♬”

“I’m all set to go. I just have to wait until Monday, prepare what I have to say, and truly start this first part of the plot.”-I say to myself as I start washing my body.

“♪♫♬♪♫♬…ALL I EVER THINK ABOUT IS THIS, ALL THE TIRING TIME BETWEEN AND HOW TRYING TO PUT MY TRUST IN YOU JUST TAKE SO MUCH OUT OF ME…♪♫♬♪♫♬”

"*Humming sounds following the song*"

I soon finish washing myself, and wait up for the song to end. After which I go out, grab some clothes to wear and go directly to sleep. This time though, on the bed instead of the couch, hoping to keep away all the nightmares.