The Demon World

"Choi Kalla! Are you sleeping in class again?" I jolted up after leaning my body against the wall.

"I-I'm sorry, teacher." I scratched my head in embarrassment as the class continued.

I am Choi Kalla, surname Choi and first name Kalla. I am an ordinary 16 year-old boy living in Daegu, South Korea. My hobby is playing video games from 11 pm to 4 am.

"Choi Kalla, this is the reason why you should sleep at night. Look at your eyebags, it's so dark that I can barely see your face. Tsk, tsk, tsk." I lowered my head in shame, while the teacher continued to point out the linear equation formula. It's not my fault that we go to school at 5 am and go home at 9 pm. I basically have no break at all.

The school bell rang, indicating lunch period. Atleast we have a chance to go home in this period, so after washing, I'd immediately go to bed instead of eating anything. I packed up everything and speed walked my way outside this hell. Sometimes, I wonder if the actual hell is better than living in school.

I ran my way to home and violently knocked on the door. "Mom, Dad? I'm home!" The door opened right up, showing my mom welcoming me with a worried face.

"Kalla, you look so pale and tired. Come on in and eat first." I feel guilty all of a sudden.

"Alright mom, but is it alright if I stay home this time? I feel like I'm living in school and going to work at home." I removed my shoes first before entering and sitting down the table.

"If only I can, I want to make you stop for a year and bring you to hospital. You're so malnourished that you barely look like a human." I keep hearing this everyday, but there's no way for me to stop playing games. In fact, I'm already multitasking multiple games at once because of so much school work.

"I'm sorry, mom." Dad also sat down and prepared his portion.

"Kalla, I'll talk to your teacher for today so make sure to sleep for the whole day instead of playing games. Understood?" I nodded as I prepared my portion of the food as well. Now that I have permission, I should spend half of the allotted time to play games, and spend the rest to sleep. I really need sleep.

"Alright, we should pray now that everyone is ready." A moment of silence was given for seconds before my dad inhaled the food like a dog. "Oh yeah, I heard that your older siblings will be coming home tomorrow. Luckily, it's Sunday so we have time to go out." I ate my fill until the last drop before putting all the dishes in the dish washer.

"I'll wash the dishes, so go in your room and sleep. If I ever catch you playing games, I'll be sending you to the hospital." I laughed it off and went to my room. I immediately jumped in my bed and turned on my phone. I should sleep first before playing, so I set my alarm on and went to sleep.

==========

A loud sound of vibration woke me up in the middle of the night. Oh right, it's my alarm.

I hurriedly ran to my computer and opened it, welcoming me with the classic blue screen. One by one, games are slowly filling up my screen until it started to lag.

"Huh, is there another damage in the PC? I just fixed this yesterday!" I tried to move the mouse, but to no avail. I tried to push the button in order to reboot the system, but the screen is still lit up and nothing is moving.

"That's it, I'm sleeping again." Before I turn around, I felt a tingling sensation on my back.

"What the-." I turned my chair around, seeing a rift in the space right above my bed. "W-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!!" I should calm down. This is probably the side effect of sleeping for an hour everyday for years.

I climbed on my bed and let my body relax before closing my eyes. This is not it, I can't sleep for some reason. I somehow feel my senses have significantly dulled.

I stood right on top of my bed and jumped to wear myself out, but it feels like I have become weightless somehow. I just noticed, but the air feels stagnant.

"This is odd. Is it because of this thing?" I stared at the rift right beside me, showing me a fiery scene of a different world covered in flames and smoke. "Nah, this is probably the result of playing too much games." I jumped once again, but my foot got stuck by my phone charger, causing me to lose my balance and trip right in the rift.

"What a luck." I regained my senses and stood up. Seeing myself in this state, I should sleep more than an hour. Wait, there's something wrong. The air feels thick and the smell of smoke is too strong. I don't think I can breathe much longer.

"Who the fuck is that?" WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!!!

"Why is a demon being born all the way here in the Land of Pride?" I looked at everyone staring at me.

"Plus this is in the middle of the battlefield!" I should calm down and assess the situation.

I'm surrounded by red creatures with horns? Hello? They look like ugly demons!

"Haha! It doesn't matter, this guy must be born here in order to be our pawn!" One of them charged at me, but my body suddenly feels light and agile and I managed to dodge his attack.

I was about to ask them, but it looks like they're not welcome to guests. Rather, they look like they were trying to kill each other before I came here. Then that means I need to run away from this place first.

"Like I'll let you run away!" I dodged another incoming attack and gave my everything to run fast, away from this place I hope.

As soon as I open my eyes, I was greeted by the scenery from a cliff. "Woah, if I didn't stop back then, I would have fallen to my death." The height from here to the ground was really high. Wait a minute, the more I look at this scenery, the more I'm sure that this is hell.

The world is covered with black smoke that resembled clouds in the sky. Lava reigned across the land, with hellish trees abundant on the left side and black sand covering the right, with a simple, red road separating the two. The ground I was standing on is a flat, red cliff that must be at least 100 meters from the scenery in front of me. Beyond the horizon is a red sky that looks like rocks. Maybe it's a cave?

I can see that beyond the road is a border made of bricks. I can feel the hotness of the surroundings. This isn't a mere hallucination.

"Where exactly am I?" I felt a sudden aura behind me, making me on guard.

"You're in the Demon World, kid."