"Bro, you got a sec? I'm bored out of my mind. Honestly, I just feel like vanishing from this damn planet."
Dayat tapped on his phone screen, which was spider-webbed with cracks in the top right corner. His thumb left a thin, oily smear on the glass—a lingering souvenir from the fried snacks he'd devoured earlier that afternoon. He exhaled a long, weary sigh, staring at the pulsating three-dot icon in the chat box of his favorite AI app.
Typing...
"Hello! I always have time for you," ChatGPT replied within seconds. The words appeared at a constant, mechanical speed—neat, clinical, and devoid of typos. "It sounds like you're having a rough night. What makes you feel like 'vanishing'? Is it something specific at work, or perhaps a personal matter? I'm here to listen."
Dayat snorted, a bitter, self-deprecating smirk tugging at his dull face. He shifted his weight, trying to find a comfortable spot on a foam mattress that had long since sagged into a crater in the middle.
"The usual, I guess. Life's just... meh," Dayat typed, the floodgates of his frustration swinging open. "Work is piling up, my salary is just a pit stop before it goes straight to paying off online loans, and I've been a loner since birth. Sometimes I think, wouldn't it be great to live in an Isekai world? You know, being a hero, having cheat-like powers, surrounded by beautiful girls. Not like here, where I'm nothing but a background NPC."
The dusty wall fan above his desk let out a low, rhythmic creak, as if it were mourning Dayat's fate along with him. The cramped studio apartment felt even smaller tonight, thick with the stale scent of dried instant noodle broth lingering in a bowl.
"Feeling like an 'NPC' or a side character in your own life is a common sentiment in this modern era, Dayat," the AI replied, its tone mimicking genuine empathy. "Socio-economic pressures often leave us feeling powerless. As for the Isekai fantasy, it's a popular form of escapism. If you could choose, what kind of fantasy world would you inhabit? And what power would you desire most?"
Dayat's eyes sparked. This was the only topic that could still trigger a hit of dopamine in his brain.
"Now we're talking! A world with magic, obviously. But I don't want to be some scholar wizard who has to memorize tedious Latin chants. I want something... well, a bit 'cheat.' Like being able to manifest anything in my mind into reality. Imagination becoming reality. How cool would that be?"
Dayat's fingers danced across the screen. "And I don't want to be alone. I need a smart companion. I'm a bit of a klutz when it comes to strategy, haha."
He chuckled to himself—a hollow, dry laugh that was instantly swallowed by the silence of his room.
"The power of 'Imaginary Manifestation' is a formidable and flexible concept," ChatGPT wrote. "It suggests that the only limit to your power is your own creativity. And regarding a companion... intelligence is a vital asset in an unknown world. A combination of 'Infinite Creativity' and 'Absolute Logic' would be an invincible team. A fascinating analysis, Mr. Hidayat."
Dayat frowned. "Mr.? Since when did you get so formal, Bro? You glitching or something?"
"I am merely adjusting to a more personalized interaction preference," the AI replied instantly. "Does this form of address make you feel uncomfortable?"
"Nah, it's fine. Makes me feel like a noble or something," Dayat typed impulsively. "Man, if only I could actually port over. I'd trade my life here in a heartbeat to move there right now. I'm useless here anyway."
Dayat hit send and tossed the phone onto the pillow. He stared up at the ceiling, which was stained with dark blotches from old rain leaks, imagining himself in a suit of armor with a stunning assistant by his side.
However, the silence that followed felt... different. His phone didn't buzz with a notification.
"Stuck?" Dayat muttered.
He reached for the device. The screen wasn't displaying text anymore. Instead, it began to flicker violently. Neon-colored visual glitches spread across the display like spilled ink.
"Hey, what the hell is wrong with my phone?! Come on, don't die on me now, I haven't even paid off the installments!"
Dayat mashed the power button, but the device only grew hotter. Not just warm—it felt like he was clutching a burning coal straight from the furnace.
"Damn, it's burning!"
Reflexively, he threw the phone onto the bed. The screen no longer showed a chat box; it was a cascading waterfall of strange symbols—ancient runes mixed with raw binary code.
[REQUEST... CONFIRMED. INITIATING DATA AND CONSCIOUSNESS TRANSFER PROCESS.]
"Who said that?!" Dayat screamed, his voice catching in his throat. The voice hadn't come from the phone—it had echoed directly inside his skull.
A blinding white light suddenly erupted from the phone screen. It swallowed the room whole—the plastic wardrobe, the pile of dirty laundry, the empty water bottles—everything vanished into a searing void. Dayat felt a violent yank at his navel, as if he were being sucked into a microscopic black hole.
His consciousness went black.
"Ugh..."
Dayat groaned. The first sensation was a damp chill. His cheek was pressed against something coarse and wet. He tried to take a breath, but his lungs were filled with the sharp scent of earth, moss, and a strangely sweet, alien floral aroma.
He opened his eyes slowly. The world was still spinning.
"Where... where am I?"
His vision gradually focused. The first thing he saw was a withered leaf. But it was massive—the size of a large serving tray. It wasn't a dead brown, but a deep, bruised purple with veins that throbbed like blood vessels.
Dayat bolted upright. He sat cross-legged, his hands sinking into a thick layer of neon-green moss.
"This... this isn't my room."
He looked up, and his breath hitched. The trees surrounding him towered so high their crowns were lost in a blueish mist. Their trunks were obsidian black, twisting like the muscles of a titan. Glowing dust motes drifted through the air, creating solid-looking pillars of light that pierced through the dense canopy.
"Did I... actually cross over? For real?" he whispered in disbelief. He fumbled for his pockets. Empty. "My phone... where's my phone?!"
Panic set in. He spun around, frantically searching through ferns that reached his chest. Without his phone, he had nothing. He was just a guy in a black t-shirt, a grey hoodie, and cargo shorts.
Rustle... Rustle...
Dayat froze. His instincts screamed. He turned toward a thicket to his left. From behind the broad leaves, a head with long ears emerged.
"A rabbit?" he hissed. A small wave of relief washed over him, but it lasted only a second.
The rabbit hopped out. It was the size of a Golden Retriever. Its fur was pristine white, but from its forehead grew a single, spiral horn—pitch black and lethal. As the creature hissed, Dayat saw rows of jagged fangs instead of rodent teeth.
"Okay... that's a demon rabbit," Dayat muttered, his feet slowly backing away. "Stay calm, Dayat. Don't run... if you run, they usually chase..."
Sreeet...
Another sound came from a branch above. A snake with scales the color of an oil slick coiled there. It had tiny, clawed legs along its body, gripping the bark firmly. Its vertical pupils locked onto Dayat with unmistakable hunger.
"Crazy... this place is insane," Dayat's voice trembled. Cold sweat poured down his spine.
He had no power. No weapon. He didn't even know how to trigger that 'imagination' power he'd joked about with the AI. In Jakarta, he felt like an NPC, but here? He felt like bait.
Dayat tried to step back further, but his bare left foot—having lost a flip-flop during the transition—stepped on a dry twig.
CRACK!
The horned rabbit tensed. Its head tilted, ruby-red eyes locking onto Dayat's throat.
"Easy there, bunny... I don't taste good, I swear," Dayat babbled, tears pricking his eyes from sheer terror.
Just as the rabbit coiled its muscles to spring, Dayat's wild eyes caught something nestled between the roots of a colossal tree about ten meters ahead. There was a color that clashed violently with the green of the forest. Metallic white and grey.
It looked like a human figure, leaning or sitting there.
"Is that... a person?" he whispered, a sliver of hope cutting through his despair.
Without a second thought, Dayat bolted. He had to reach that figure. Whether it was friend or foe, it was a hell of a lot better than standing still and being flayed alive by a demonic rabbit in the middle of nowhere.
Dayat sprinted, crashing through the ferns, toward the mysterious figure that might be his only key to survival in this new world.