Someone else grabbed the last box.
Kael froze, and his hand was still on the shop door when he watched the stranger snatch the final box from the counter and walk away as if nothing had happened.
Kael stared at the empty counter, then at the owner, who gave him an awkward, apologetic smile.
Kael's jaw tightened, just slightly. "That... was mine," he said.
The stranger did not turn around.
Something inside Kael snapped, and he ran after the man.
"Get back here!"
The stranger immediately broke into a sprint. Kael cursed under his breath and chased him down the street, weaving between pedestrians and parked cars with absolutely no plan beyond catching the man and recovering what was rightfully his.
He had survived a terrible boss, endless overtime, and a life that had never once gone the way he wanted, and now he was not losing fried chicken.
The stranger suddenly cut to the side, and Kael followed without hesitation, but that was the mistake.
A motorcycle burst out of the cross street. When Kael turned, it was too late, and his eyes went wide.
For one stupid, final second, all he could think about was the smell of fried chicken, and then the world went white.
When Kael opened his eyes, he was lying on a wooden floor.
He forced himself upright with a groan. His body felt strange, lighter than it should, unfamiliar in a way that had nothing to do with sleep, like new bones that hadn't settled into place. The room around him was completely unfamiliar, with plain walls, a narrow bed, and a cracked mirror hanging slightly crooked, a single candle flickering quietly in the corner, as if it had been waiting for him.
Kael sat there for a long moment, and then he touched his face.
"Okay, it is either I died, or I hit my head hard enough to leave my body."
He walked to the mirror.
The face staring back was younger with dark hair, sharp eyes, and pale skin, and the kind of exhaustion he recognized instantly, because it had lived on his own face for years.
"What the..."
A blue screen panel appeared in front of him.
Kael jumped back in shock.
[ Welcome to the world of Eryndor ]
"No... way."
The screen panel changed, displaying other notifications.
[ Name: Kael Draven ]
[ Age: 24 ]
[ Status: Reborn ]
For a moment, Kael didn't move at all, then he laughed once, a dry, disbelieving sound that echoed off the plain walls.
"Re... reborn?"
The panel changed again.
[ Status ]
[ Strength: F ]
[ Mana: F ]
[ Speed: F ]
[ Stamina: F ]
[ Dexterity: F ]
[ Luck: SSS ]
Kael looked at the screen for a long time, and then his face slowly twisted.
"F in everything? Are you serious?"
The system has no response.
"What kind of second life is this?"
Still nothing.
He dragged a hand down his face and looked at the mirror again. This time, he noticed the clothes. A mage uniform, fitted and formal, clearly belonging to some academy.
"So I really did get reborn into a fantasy world," he said.
Memories of his old life drifted back in broken pieces: office work, deadlines, cold coffee, a boss who treated every employee like a problem to manage, cheap meals, alone, a life that had been quietly miserable for years without ever reaching a breaking point dramatic enough to change anything, and then the stupid chicken.
Kael closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.
"I died over fried chicken," he said quietly. "That is the most pathetic ending I could have gotten."
Someone knocked at the door, then another knock. "Kael Draven. If you are awake, open the door."
The voice was female, cool, calm, and sharp enough to cut stone.
Kael hesitated, then opened it.
Standing outside was a girl with long silver hair and a white mage robe. Her posture was perfectly straight, her expression completely unreadable, and her eyes were so calm and steady that Kael immediately felt like he had already done something wrong without knowing what.
She glanced at the floating status panel beside him, and her expression did not change.
"You are late again," she said.
Kael blinked. "Wait, wait... do I know you?"
The girl looked at him the way someone looks at a wrong answer that should have been obvious.
"Lyra Windrune," she said. "And judging by your face, you forgot everything again."
"Again?" he asked.
Lyra gave him a flat look.
"Do you always sound this useless, or is today special?"
Kael stared at her.
"That feels unfair," he said.
"It is not," she replied. "You have ten minutes to reach the awakening hall. If you are late, Professor Hale will make you regret it."
Then she turned and walked away without another word, her silver hair catching the dim corridor light as she disappeared around the corner.
Kael watched her go. There was something about her that felt different from anyone he had met in his old life. Serious, precise, completely impossible to read, and he had the strange feeling she was going to become very important to him, whether he wanted that or not.
A bell rang through the academy, and students rushed past him from every direction. Some shoved past without looking. Others gave him long, contemptuous stares as if his presence in the hallway was itself an offense, and one blond boy stopped nearby and smirked.
"So the trash finally woke up."
Kael glanced at him.
"Try not to embarrass yourself today," the boy said, then walked off laughing with the others.
Kael stood alone in the corridor, and he let out a slow breath and stepped forward.
"If this world wants to laugh at me, I can work with that."
He headed toward the awakening hall when someone screamed.
A loud crash followed, and a student ahead began shouting and pulling back. A burst of smoke rolled out into the corridor, and the sharp crack of something magical tearing apart echoed through the walls.
A voice shouted from inside, "The circle is unstable!"
The hall doors swung slowly open on their own.
From the darkness beyond, something black and shapeless began crawling toward him across the stone floor, leaving silence wherever it moved, as if it was swallowing sound itself.
Kael froze.
His first day in this world had just become a whole lot worse, and whatever was coming through that door looked very, very hungry.
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