Sebi's eyes flew open.
"MAKE ME A PLAYER , MAKE ME A PLAYER"
He shot upright, hands grabbing at nothing, voice raw like he'd been screaming for hours.
Then he stopped.This wasn't the dungeon.
He blinked.Once.Twice.White ceiling.White walls.The sharp clean smell of a hospital.Soft light coming through a window to his left.A bed beneath him with actual sheets.An IV line taped to the back of his hand.
Two people sat in chairs directly across from him.Both dressed in black suits.Both watching him with the calm, steady eyes of people who had been waiting for exactly this moment.One of them raised a hand.
"Hey. Sit down. You're safe."
Sebi's chest was still heaving.He looked around the room one more time just to be sure.No statues.No stone ceiling.No arrows.He sat back slowly.And then the flashbacks hit him all at once like a door being kicked open from the inside.
The carved chamber.The angel's black eyes.The scroll igniting in his hand.The screens floating in the air in front of his face, glowing softly, words appearing line by line.
Shadow God System.
Do you wish to become a Player?
The spear.He pressed a hand flat against his chest without thinking.
"I know," one of the suited men said. "You have a lot of questions. That's expected."
Sebi looked at him.
"How did I end up here?"
The man leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.
"My name is Remmy. And I'm going to explain everything including why we've been sitting here waiting for you to wake up."
He paused.
"But first you need to breathe."
Sebi exhaled slowly.Then nodded.
"Okay. Talk."
"You've been in a coma," Remmy said.
"Three months."
Sebi stared at him.
"Three???? "
He stopped.
"Three months?"
"Today was the day we expected you to wake up. So we came."
"Where's Bojo?"
The question came out before anything else.
"Is he"
"Bojo is alive," Remmy said.
"He made it out. Came straight to us arrow still in his leg, bleeding from three places. Didn't stop moving until he'd told us everything."
A pause.
"He saved your life, kid."
Sebi exhaled.Something tight in his chest loosened just slightly.
"When we arrived at the dungeon," Remmy continued, "his report turned out to be wrong or at least incomplete."
Sebi frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"When we got there nothing. The entire chamber was empty. No statues. No angel. No signs of a battle whatsoever."
Remmy's eyes stayed steady.
"Just you. Lying unconscious on the floor. Alone."
Sebi opened his mouth.Closed it again.
"We brought you in and started treatment immediately," Remmy said.
"Your injuries were severe. But you're here."
Sebi pulled the collar of his hospital gown aside and looked down at his chest.He ran his fingers slowly across the skin where the third arrow had gone through him.
But there was nothing.Not even a scar.The second suited man spoke for the first time.His voice was quieter than Remmy's but carried more weight.
"Sebi. We're going to need a proper account of what happened in that dungeon."
Sebi looked at him.
"The twelve members of the cleaner association who were present with you that day we've spoken to all of them."
The man paused.
"None of them remember anything. Not a single detail."
"It's as if something has completely blocked that part of their memory."
"Their minds are"
He chose the next word carefully and then said
"Gone."
"They're alive but they can't function."
"Can't speak properly."
"Can't work."
"We'd call them traumatized but that word isn't strong enough."
He held Sebi's gaze.
"We're basically calling them zombies at this point."
Sebi's stomach dropped.
"All of them?"
The man nodded.
"Every single one expect for Bojo."
"But they're alive," Sebi said quietly.More to himself than to anyone else.
"They're alive," Remmy confirmed.
"Which brings us straight back to our question."
He leaned forward again.
"You are perfectly fine."
"No memory loss."
"No trauma response."
"No lasting physical damage despite injuries that should have killed you three times over."
He studied Sebi's face.
"How is that possible?"
"What exactly happened in there?"
Sebi's mind moved fast.Should I tell them about the screens?About the system?About the voice that asked if I wanted to become a Player.He looked at Remmy.At the other man.At their suits and their calm professional faces and their folded hands.
Who would believe that?
A screen appeared in the air in front of a dying cleaner a nobody with no Talent and three months of missed medication and brought him back to life?
"I don't remember anything either," Sebi said.
Remmy held his gaze for a long moment.Then exhaled through his nose.
"That's three months of nothing from thirteen different people."
He shook his head slowly.
"This is insane."
He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a small rectangular device.
It was Flat.Silver in color,About the size of a deck of cards.He set it on the edge of the bed.Sebi recognized it immediately.
"That's a Talent Detector."
"Put your hand on it."
"Remmy," Sebi almost laughed.
"I already did one of those. A month before the dungeon."
"The result was completely negative."
"I have no Shen energy."
"I can't awaken."
"That's been my whole"
"I know what the record says," Remmy said.
"Put your hand on it anyway."
Sebi looked at the device.Looked at Remmy.
"The result is going to be negative. I'm telling you right now."
"Then we'll have our answer and we'll move on."
Remmy nodded at the device.
"Hand."
Sebi placed his palm flat on the surface.The device hummed.A small light on the side blinked on once, twice and then settled into a steady rhythmic beep.The sound filled the quiet room.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
Sebi watched it with half-lidded eyes.
"See? Nothing. Same as always."
"I already told you all there's nothing special about me."
"The result is going to come out negative and then"
Remmy went very still.His eyes were fixed on the device.The other man leaned forward in his chair.
"Shadow Talent," Remmy said quietly.
The word landed like a stone dropped into still water.Sebi froze.
"What?"
Remmy turned the device around so Sebi could see the screen.The readout was clear.Undeniable.Glowing steadily in clean sharp text.
Talent Detected — Shadow.
Sebi stared at it.His mouth opened.Nothing came out.
"What," he said again.Barely a whisper this time.