"Greetings, Master."
The holographic voice flowing from the golden cube echoed across the transparent walls, which trembled ever so slightly. The cube hovered before me, suspended in midair, radiating a soft glow that illuminated the space — white-silver like the depths of space, but without stars, without sound, without time.
"What are you?" I whispered, instinctively stepping back. My body trembled — not from fear, but from confusion. "Where am I?"
"You are in the Heart of the Cube. A space hidden from the world. The world cannot see it, just as the eye cannot see the deepest truths. I am the Cube of Desires. I am a tool. I am a path. I am the instrument of the Master's will."
"Master? You're mistaken."
"No. You found me. Touched me. Accepted my essence. We are now one. I exist for a single purpose — to grant your desire."
"I have no desires," I answered quietly, lowering my gaze. My hands were still trembling, and my heart pounded in my chest like a cornered beast.
"No desires?" The Cube's voice quivered with a hint of confusion. "Does the Master not crave power? Control? To reclaim what was taken? To preserve what still remains?"
I was silent. The question pierced deeper than I expected. Like a dagger driven into an old but unhealed wound.
"You are a man who was betrayed. Beaten down. You fell, but you rose again. And still… everything kept falling apart. I sense in you rage, pain, fear of losing even more. So why lie to yourself?"
"I…"
I wanted to argue. I wanted to say it was all just coincidence, just misfortune, just life. But no words came. Instead, I felt the space around me shift. The floor vanished beneath my feet, and in the next moment, I stood… in the sky.
The sky. The height. Below me — Seoul.
Dazzling, magnificent, nighttime Seoul. Thousands of lights, millions of windows, tangled roads flowing like rivers of light. Cars, like fireflies, crawled slowly along the highways. The moon reflected in the smooth surface of the Han River, turning it into a silver ribbon.
I stood still, mesmerized. It felt as if I floated kilometers above, yet I felt no cold. The wind didn't touch my skin. There was only me and this vibrant, living city.
"Look down, Master," the Cube's voice now came from everywhere. "This is your world. A world that once turned its back on you. A world that passed you by. A world where you were just a shadow in the background. My purpose is to make you the absolute ruler of this world. Its sovereign. Its architect."
I looked down. Into those lights. Into the windows behind which others' lives unfolded. And everything inside me, once tightly coiled, suddenly ignited.
"I..."
I remembered.
I remembered how, in school, I was stomped into the dirt by older boys — just because I refused to bow. How I sat by the bathroom afterward, blood on my lips and a concussion in my head, while everyone else laughed.
I remembered how my father — the only one pulling the two of us forward — slowly faded. How he worked nights, wore down his heart, and one day… simply didn't wake up.
I remembered the debts. The sleepless nights. The smell of cheap dumplings that haunted me for three years.
I remembered Mei Ling, the light of my youth, choosing someone else. Someone stronger, richer — someone who could give her the protection I couldn't.
I had buried all of it deep within. So deep, I had convinced myself I'd forgotten. But now it surged back. Like a scream from the abyss.
"I... must become stronger," I whispered. Then the words broke free louder. "I must become stronger!"
The world shuddered.
"Accepted," said the Cube, and the next moment wiped everything away.
Now, only the cosmos remained. Real this time. Stars stared at me like cold eyes, filled with an emptiness beyond words. I stood on a platform, dreamlike and shifting. The Cube hovered in front of me.
"To become stronger… you must stop being a Character."
"A Character?" I repeated, clenching my fists. "What does that mean?"
The Cube remained silent. And the cosmos… listened.