“···?”

I froze in my tracks, a strange sensation gripping me. My hurried steps came to an abrupt halt as I blinked at the unbelievable scene unfolding before my eyes.

"Where... am I?"

Just one blink. Or was it a single step? I couldn’t tell. My mind was too muddled to make sense of it. In what seemed like an instant, the place I had been walking just moments ago had transformed into something completely different, as if the world had shifted in a heartbeat.

[Hello!]

“···?”

I stood still for a long moment, taking in my surroundings, but nothing changed. The landscape that had changed so abruptly still lay before me, leaving me in a state of utter confusion.

What is going on? The bewilderment was overwhelming. Suddenly, a voice greeted me, breaking the eerie silence.

Frantically looking around, I saw no one. The narrow alley I found myself in was completely deserted, a stark contrast to the bustling street I had been walking on earlier. There was no one who could have greeted me.

A voice in an empty place.

Deciding it was a dream, I tried to dismiss it.

"Is this a lucid dream...?"

[It’s not a dream!]

Whenever I dream, my mind usually feels foggy, like everything is shrouded in mist. Yet here I was, fully aware and dreaming. Despite the persistent voice in my head telling me otherwise...

"Fascinating," I muttered, looking around with a sense of wonder. I clearly remembered everything I did today, but now it all felt like a dream. Just looking at the dark alley brought a strange joy. My phone had disappeared, but I didn’t care. I felt like I was experiencing something extraordinary.

Do people who have lucid dreams always feel this way? I've heard they practice a lot to be able to dream like this. Maybe I should try it too, I thought as I continued to explore.

Then, the voice in my head shouted again.

[It's not a dream! How can I explain this…?]

"Ugh, this is annoying," I muttered. Where was the voice coming from? I wished it would just disappear, but nothing changed. In a lucid dream, shouldn’t I be able to control things?

"Hey, look at this pretty girl."

"What brings you here? Want to hang out with us?"

"As if she'd want to. Dumbass."

"Maybe. Hehe."

What now? Ignoring the voice, I noticed two thugs laughing and harassing a woman. Did I really have this much imagination? Their realistic appearance made me want to walk away.

"Hey, are you ignoring us?"

"Feisty, huh? So that's how it is?"

I felt a bit sorry for the woman but didn’t intend to help. After all, she was just a dream character. She’d disappear once I left... right?

"···?"

"You can't ignore us."

"When someone talks to you, you should respond."

What were these guys doing? Why were they coming towards me? I had no intention of interfering.

"Ugh, this is getting annoying."

My body shook suddenly, and my vision blurred. It felt like something was holding me back. When I turned to look, one of the thugs had grabbed my wrist.

Was it the sudden grip that made my wrist hurt? Wait, pain?

"Coming here uninvited, huh? Ignoring us isn’t gonna fly."

"I thought you were some superhuman. Turns out you're just a pretty face."

"If a regular person comes into this alley, they shouldn't expect to leave unharmed, got it?"

I barely heard the thugs’ chatter as I stared at the pain in my wrist.

"Not... a dream?"

Dreams don’t hurt, do they? The thugs looked at me with a mix of concern and confusion as I muttered to myself.

"Hey, is she okay?"

"I don't know. She seems out of it. But she's pretty, so she’ll sell well."

"Yeah, maybe."

A girl? These guys were talking to a girl earlier, right? Realizing this, I quickly looked around. My eyes fell on the slender arm still gripped by the thug.

"Wait, what...?"

It was then that I noticed the strangeness of my own body. All the oddities I had dismissed as part of a dream came rushing back to reality. The slender arm. The heavy chest and the lower viewpoint than usual. A delicate voice, low yet unmistakably female.

Changes so significant that I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed them. The truth was clear: the girl these thugs had been talking to was me.

"This... what is this...?"

"This girl still doesn't get it."

"We're lucky. She's even better than I thought. Hey."

While I was still in shock, one of the thugs looked me up and down, his eyes filled with a predatory gleam. Realizing the danger, I tried to pull my arm free and run, but my new, weaker body couldn’t break free from their grip.

"Let go, let go...!"

"Huh? What's this?"

"Seems like she's come to her senses?"

"Annoying."

What’s happening? If this isn’t a dream, did I really move to this strange place in the blink of an eye? And why is my body different?

I set aside these questions and struggled to escape, but my efforts only resulted in more violence.

"Ugh, ugh...!"

"Stop struggling and stay still!"

The blows weren’t severe enough to cause serious injury, but to someone unaccustomed to violence, they were painful.

It hurt. It hurt so much.

[Hmm... This isn’t good. Getting beaten by these extras…]

Why is this happening to me? What’s going on?

Just as tears of frustration began to well up, the voice in my head spoke again.

[Reader, you need to get out of this situation!]

"Get out... how...?"

"Shut up and stay still!"

"Ah, ahhh...!"

Repeating the voice’s words out loud, one of the thugs kicked me harder, his eyes filled with malice. All I could do was curl up and endure their abuse.

[Hmm... how do I explain this... You have something called mana. Do you understand?]

Mana? Inside my body? It was a pathetic explanation, but I had no choice but to listen. To survive.

Grasping at straws, I tried to find this something inside me. Is this it?

[Found it? Now, release it with a bang!]

Release it? How? The instructions were vague, but I followed them. The result was shocking.

"Ahhhh! My arm...!"

"?! Are you okay?"

"Fuck, shit...!"

With a sharp sound, something thin and sharp cut through the air. A string? I watched in shock as a thin string fell in front of me, leaving a long cut on the thug’s arm. His hand, the one that had been hitting me, was severed.

"Crazy... Are you a superhuman? Why didn’t you do anything before?"

"Are you okay?!"

"No time for that! Kill her now!"

"Hiccup!"

Fear overwhelmed me. This unfamiliar place, the strange voice, my transformed body. I did the only thing I could think of. As the thugs moved to kill me, I followed the voice’s instructions again, more forcefully this time.

The result was horrifying.

"···Huh?"

With a wet thud, pieces of flesh and blood scattered around. The man’s fingers, aimed at me, fell to the ground.

"Ugh...!"

Seeing the gruesome sight, I vomited. I didn’t know how I did it, but I knew one thing for sure.

I killed them.

[Hmm, more shocking than I expected…]

As I continued to retch, the voice in my head mumbled.

[It was tough, but look! You’re safe now, right?]

"Ugh... safe...?"

Raising my head, I regretted it instantly. The bodies were gone. Disappeared as if they had never existed.

[Reader, are you okay?]

"···."

That’s when I realized. This wasn’t just a voice in my head. It was something much more dangerous.

"What... what are you...?"

[Hehe, I used some power! Don’t worry, those were just dolls!]

"Dolls?"

[Yes, dolls! Extras that don’t even make it to the stage!]

After that, the voice babbled on about how it had brought me here, wanting to make the world more exciting. Most of it was incomprehensible, but I understood one thing.

"···What should I call you?"

[Hmm... call me Writer!]

"Writer...?"

[Yes!]

I looked around. The blood-soaked scene was gone, as if it had never existed.

And that was how I first met the Writer.