The Awakening of Leo

"Leo, wake up!" 

He tossed and turned, trying to open his eyes, but they refused to cooperate, no matter how loud the shout was that shook his ears. 

It was an automatic response, but the voice did not repeat itself. 

Slam! 

He snapped his eyes open as he rolled out of bed, the impact so strong it felt like his jaw would come loose. 

A massive, furry figure with an intense, almost wild look in its bloodshot eyes was glaring down at him. 

The giant grunted softly, stomping on Leo's face with the boot he wore. 

"It's work time. Head to the parts room now. Got it?" 

"...All right." 

The voice that came out of Leo was rough, hoarse, almost as if it had to force its way out. 

As soon as he answered, the giant, Ethan, stormed out of the room. 

Only then did Leo take a moment to look around, his cold hands brushing against his aching cheeks. 

A small room, filled with simple beds and dirty sheets. About ten other people were watching him with pity in their eyes. 

"You idiot. You didn't even realize the supervisor was here and you were just sleeping..." 

"Leave it alone. You know there's not much time left. That's why the supervisor slapped me and let me go." 

"Well, if I beat that guy up, he might really die." 

After their whispered conversations, the others got up and vanished, leaving Leo behind. 

He had been half-listening to their chatter, and only now did he raise his hands to feel his own body. 

A thin, frail body, his ribs were easily felt through the skin. His arms, as delicate as tree branches, and his calves, marked by visible blood vessels. 

The body beneath him was a sickly shell, a stark contrast to the strong, healthy form he once remembered. 

"… … ." 

Stumbling to his feet, Leo staggered to a small mirror in the corner of the damp room. He barely recognized himself. 

The face staring back at him in the cracked mirror was that of a young man holding his swollen cheek, and it was eerily similar to the character he had created, the third one, on the screen. 

"Leo… that's what it was." 

A character created just for the game, with no real meaning or value. 

That nameless, insignificant body he hadn't even bothered to name before now was all he had left. 

Leo was thrown into this new world like that, without a single complaint. 

Awakening 

Boom! 

"Move quickly!" 

The supervisor, Ethan, stomped around the sprawling parts room, yelling at the top of his lungs. 

Scattered across the endlessly rotating conveyor belt were poorly assembled metal parts. 

"It's almost time for the union members to collect the products. How long are you going to delay?" 

As Ethan fury echoed through the room, the workers in front of the belt began moving a little faster. 

But Ethan wasn't satisfied and, in a flash, lashed his small whip at a few of the nearby workers, striking them with sharp cracks before walking off, seemingly calm again. 

"If you don't make it on time, you'd better be prepared! I don't intend to let useless trash who can't meet their quotas sleep!!" 

Leo, observing from a distance, returned his gaze to the metal piece he was holding. 

Three days had passed since he woke up in this nameless parts manufacturing plant known as "the factory." 

Although he still had little understanding of the place, Leo had quickly adapted to the monotonous routine of factory life. 

They woke up before the sun, worked until their bodies were nearly spent, and before heading to bed, they were handed bowls of porridge that seemed worse than food waste. 

All day, the labour involved assembling broken metal parts and placing them on the conveyor belt. 

Leo had no choice but to accept the drudgery that came with it, having no real understanding of his surroundings. 

The other workers refused to speak to him when he tried to ask questions, and just a day ago, he realized their eyes looked at him as though he were already dead. 

"Haa, haa... ." 

The parts room, with no ventilation, was thick with sweat and the sour stench of hard labor, a vapor that clung to the ceiling. 

The air was so stifling that Leo's body felt like it was suffocating with every breath. 

What bothered him more than the suffocating environment, however, was the alienation of his body. It was nothing like the body he had remembered—weak and fragile. 

The gruelling labour, which seemed like it would crush him at any moment, continued for over ten hours without pause. 

Thankfully, no one paid much attention to Leo as he struggled to assemble the parts. 

Ethan clicked his tongue when he saw Leo's pale face but didn't seem interested in wasting time on someone who appeared already on the brink of death. 

From the moment Leo realized this, he gradually learned the tricks to surviving this hellish existence. 

By the time his shift ended, Leo was able to take a bowl of dry porridge and finish it in a matter of seconds before collapsing into bed. 

He lay back, staring up at the dark ceiling, but his mind was still wide awake. 

It was insomnia. 

"Damn…" 

It had already been three days since he last slept properly. 

Leo had a pretty good idea where this torment came from. 

One of the penalties attached to his character was insomnia—a trait that had been baked into his very being. 

What made it worse was that the penalty wasn't just insomnia. 

Leo's body was ravaged by various ailments and weaknesses, and the lingering effects were eating away at him, pushing him further down with each passing hour. 

How long could he last? 

He knew, deep down, that his body couldn't withstand this harsh environment for long. 

Three days had passed, and the conclusion was clear from the start. 

"I have to get out of here." 

Whether he died in the factory or was caught and killed while escaping, the outcome was the same for Leo. 

He had no intention of making this filthy parts room his grave. 

But not everything was against him. 

Since the workers already regarded Leo as a dead man walking, he faced less scrutiny than the others. His actions went mostly unnoticed, which meant that, if he could figure out the layout of the factory, he might just have a chance to escape. 

What was more important was that Leo's body wasn't completely useless. 

Despite the penalties—insomnia and sickness—the talents he had chosen for his character were still there, dormant within him. 

The magical abilities that Leo had infused with various bad traits were also lying dormant within him, waiting to be unlocked. 

If he could somehow tap into that magic, escape from the factory might not be entirely impossible. 

"… … ." 

Leo realized it too. 

In this extreme situation, where his body was pushed to its limit by exhaustion and lack of sleep, he had become a different person. He was calm, calculating, and ready to make a plan. 

The mental abilities he had invested in when creating his character—composure, concentration, and boldness—had given him the strength to stay sane after three days of deprivation. 

He had always believed that the mind was rooted in the body, not the soul. Rational thinking, cool-headedness, and logic were all gifts of the brain. 

The mental strength that kept him steady now was part of the talents that had been instilled in his body. 

The first step to surviving this ordeal was recognizing that Leo wasn't the same person who had created the character. He wasn't the person who made that decision—this was the result of those choices. 

He wouldn't let his guard down for a second until he had a way out. 

Leo forced himself to close his eyes, staying vigilant, as he lay there, awaiting his next move.