Chapter 3: Restart

Dark. Quiet.

Not the cold, terrifying kind… but warm. Soft. Like floating in a place with no weight, no pain.

For the first time in forever, Kaito felt… calm.

Then a voice cut through the silence.

[Welcome, Kaito Ren. Your pain has been seen. You have been selected.]

His eyes blinked open—but instead of blinding light or flames… he saw a soft blue glow in the air.

A screen hovered in front of him, pulsing gently.

[SYSTEM ACTIVATING…][LOADING INTERFACE…]

He barely had time to understand before—

Kaito gasped awake.

His heart was pounding. He looked around.

Sunlight poured through a familiar window. The fan above clicked in a lazy circle. His phone buzzed softly on the table.

"This… this is my old room."

He sat up slowly. The smell of furniture polish, the posters on the wall—everything was exactly as he remembered.

He grabbed his phone and checks the date.

June 21st.

His breath hitched.

"Summer vacation. First year…"

The phone dropped from his hands onto the bed.

"What the hell is going on…?"

Then, a familiar voice called out from downstairs.

"Kaito! Breakfast's ready!"

His chest tightened. That voice.

He ran out of his room, stumbled down the stairs barefoot, and turned into the kitchen—

And froze.

His mother was there, flipping an omelette, humming softly.

Not stressed. Not worried. Not broken.

"Kaito? You're up early!" she said, glancing over with a soft smile.

He couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe. It was her—before everything fell apart.

"…Y-yeah," he managed. "Just… woke up hungry."

He was sitting at the table like in a dream, staring at his mom and dad, who were drinking tea and reading a newspaper.

Then a flicker of memory hit him—his mother was crying behind a closed door while clutching the bills that she couldn't pay. His father, jobless and hollow-eyed. That house had turned into a graveyard of laughter because of those bastards.

It was all normal. Too normal.

Maybe… this is heaven?

Then—

PING.

A screen appeared in front of his face.

He yelled, tipped backward in his chair, and hit the floor with a loud thud.

His dad peeked over the newspaper. "You alright?"

Kaito sat up, eyes locked on the glowing display no one else could see.

"Uh-yeah! I'm fine. Just slipped."

[SYSTEM INTERFACE ONLINE]➤ LEVEL: 0➤ ATTACK POWER: 10➤ STAMINA: 10➤ AGILITY: 5➤ SKILLS: 0➤ APPEARANCE: -1

Kaito squinted. "Negative one?! Are you serious?"

His dad raised an eyebrow. "You say something?"

Kaito chuckled awkwardly. "Nope. Just… thinking out loud."

He glanced up and nearly dropped his fork. Above his dad's head hovered a faint marker:

➤ LEVEL 5

"What the—?"

He leaned forward to touch it, but his hand passed right through. Instead, it landed on the toast.

"You want this?" his dad asked.

"Uh… yeah. I'm starving," Kaito said quickly, grabbing it.

His mind was spinning.

Only he could see the screen. Only he could see the levels.

What the hell is happening to me?

Later, in his room, Kaito stared at the floating screen as it followed him like a cursed companion.

He waved a hand through it. No response. It just hovered there, silently judging him.

"This isn't a dream," he muttered. He scrolled the menu—basic stats, no log out, no off switch. Just… there.

The next morning, he woke in his bed, blinking at the sunlight.

No screen. No noise.

Then—PING.

There it was again. Waiting.

He rubbed his face and laughed softly under his breath.

"So I did travel back in time, huh…"

He stood, stretching.

"This means… maybe I can avoid everything this time. The bullying. The rumors. The pain."

But then—

[MANDATORY MISSION UNLOCKED]➤ HELP THE BOY YOU ONCE HELPED.[REWARD: Cat Eyes]

His face dropped.

"…Seriously?"

[Refusal to comply will result in 10,000 volts of current.]

His eyes widened. "WHAT?! That's not punishment—that's execution!"

The screen flickered once. Then again, brighter.

[PAIN: OPTIMAL INCENTIVE DETECTED. CONTINUING PROTOCOL.]

"Was that… a response? Or just programming?"

He clenched his fists.

"Why should I help anyone? No one helped me when I needed it!"

The screen stayed silent.

Then another message appeared:

[Power is earned. Not given.][You must complete missions to grow stronger.]

He groaned and rubbed his eyes.

Then—a memory.

He was on the bathroom floor, breathing heavily, shirt soaked from the toilet water they'd dumped on him. Laughter echoed off the tiles.

No teachers. No friends. Just silence.

He'd pressed his back to the door and waited for the final bell.

He sighed.

"Fine. I'll help. But if I help that boy, they'll bully me again."

[THEN DEFEAT THEM.]

"Yeah? And how the hell am I supposed to do that?"

[BY LEVELING UP AND INCREASING YOUR STATS.]

Then he says, "Ok then, increase my attack power by 100."

[You have to complete missions and earn EXP points to level up.]

"Ok, then give me something."

[NEW MISSION UNLOCKED]➤ JOIN A GYM➤ REWARD: +1 APPEARANCE➤ EXP: +100

He blinked. "...A gym? Really? That's my first mission?"

A weak chuckle escaped him.

He took off his shirt and looked at the mirror.

His reflection stared back—pale, thin arms, eyes too big for his face. Weak.

"Not this time," he whispered. "I'll fix it all. I'll get stronger. I'll become someone nobody dares to break."

He turned and opened his closet.

Old clothes hung on plastic hangers—oversized shirts, jeans that barely fit right. The kind of stuff he wore when he wanted to disappear.

He ran a hand over one of the shirts. It smelled faintly of dust and detergent.

"...No wonder they laughed."

He didn't say it with anger—just quiet honesty. A truth he had buried, now staring him in the face.

Kaito pulled out a plain T-shirt and tugged it on.

"Whatever. I'm not staying like this."

The screen followed him, hovering. Watching. Waiting.

He tapped the interface. A list appeared:

➤ Mission Log➤ Status➤ Inventory➤ Store (LOCKED)➤ Settings (LIMITED)

Everything felt half-finished. Like a demo version of a game he never signed up for.

Still, he scrolled to Mission Log.

[ACTIVE MISSIONS]➤ Help the boy you once helped. (MANDATORY)➤ Join a gym.

Another line blinked beneath the gym one:

[Bonus Objective: Convince your parents to sign you up.][Reward: +10 EXP]

He groaned. "Seriously? Even in a magical system, I need parental permission?"

The screen didn't reply.

Kaito sat on the edge of his bed, elbows on his knees, hands clasped tight.

"I don't know if I can do this," he muttered."I remember how bad it got and how it felt when no one stood up for me. Not even once."

His throat tightened. For a second, he just breathed through the memory.

Then he looked up.

"I won't go through that again. If I have to play this game… then I'm playing to win. And to get stronger."

He walked to the window. Summer air flowed in, warm and bright.

Outside, the neighborhood looked exactly like it had back then.

Kids on bikes. Lawn mowers are humming. Birds chirping like the world had never hurt anyone.

But it had.

And it would again—unless he changed something.

Kaito rested his arms on the windowsill.

"I don't know who gave me this second chance… or why. But I'm not wasting it."

He looked down at his hands. Then on the screen.

"I will take revenge," he said quietly. "But I'm not doing this just to hurt them. I want to become someone I can live with. Someone worth saving."

The system didn't answer.

It didn't need to.

He closed the window gently, muting the outside world.

Then, glancing at the glowing screen, he whispered,

"Alright. Let's go join a gym."

As he turned the doorknob, the screen flared once, like it approved.

The past had given him a second chance.

This time, he wouldn't lose.

Somewhere out there, the people who once broke him were still living their lives, unaware.

But the game had begun.

And this time… it would be them who break.

To be continued...