It was 3 p.m. at Yansung University, and several students were flooding out of the building, laughing and chattering.

Everyone was making plans for how they were going to spend the evening now that classes had ended.

In the corner of the school building, not far from the main road but not visible from it, a young man in the same uniform was kneeling and clutching his stomach.

"Be careful not to hit his face, or we might get on Lee Jin's bad side," one of the boys surrounding him said, not a hint of concern in his voice.

The group standing around him held cigarettes between their fingers. Some were looking at their phones, like the boy kneeling in front of them barely registered.

Another guy hauled him to his feet, but the boy's expression showed no hope, no relief. If anything it got grimmer, like he already knew what was coming.

Thud

The same guy who had lifted him up swung a full punch into his stomach, and he hit the ground again, clutching it once more.

"Hey, how would you rate my punch? One to ten?"

The man asked with a devious grin.

The group watched, snickering and taking the occasional drag, clearly enjoying the show.

Hou Yi could not get out a proper answer. He kept his mouth shut, refusing to let out so much as a grunt. He knew if they heard him grunt or cry out, it would only egg them on and drag this out longer.

"Hey Shin, I think your punches are weak. I can see him smiling from over here."

One of the guys standing beside Hou Yi remarked, completely indifferent.

It was a lie. The man could clearly see he was holding back tears. But he said it anyway, knowing Shin Tao would take it further with the slightest push, and knowing he himself would never be the one to face any consequences for it.

"Is that so~"

Shin looked at him, then back at Hou Yi, with a twisted smile.

Hou Yi could already tell what was coming. He shut his eyes and flexed his abs. Even tensing that much hurt, but he had to take it, anything to brace for the kick he was sure was coming.

What Hou Yi did not know was that Shin had already guessed he would brace for his stomach, so he was aiming for his bare face instead, which was tilted down with his eyes closed.

Just as Shin pulled his right leg back, winding up like he was about to take a shot at a football, the sound around them faded.

Hou Yi, still on his knees, held his breath and braced for impact. It never came. Even after a few more seconds, nothing landed.

BOOM!!!

A loud crash came from behind him, followed by the screech of tires.

Hou Yi finally looked up. The group that had surrounded him a moment ago was gone.

It made no sense. The spot where they had called him to was their usual hangout, close to the academy, just a few turns off the main road, the kind of dead end nobody bothered walking down.

The path led to a control box that the university's electrical staff checked once every month or two, and otherwise it was just a smoking spot during breaks and after class.

Hou Yi looked to either side. Nobody.

What?

Their snickering was still ringing in his ears. There was no way they had time to get away, and even if they had, he should have heard footsteps. All he had heard was the thud of bags hitting the ground, all at once.

He looked closer and noticed the half-lit cigarettes scattered around him, right next to the bags.

Hou Yi was even more confused now.

He got up slowly, looked around, and found phones lying there too, right beside the bags.

BOOM!!!

Another explosion, this one from the direction of the main road, made him flinch again. It sounded close, like just around the corner. A wave of warm air rushed through the path and hit the back of his head.

Right away, Hou Yi knew something was very wrong.

...

Hou Yi limped toward the sound, one hand still pressed to his stomach, and reached the bend where the main road came into view.

"What!"

A wall of fire greeted him the moment he turned his head. The bang from earlier had apparently been a car slamming into a tree by the sidewalk, hard enough to set it off.

What is going on?

Panic crept in. First Shin and his goons vanishing into thin air, now this.

Shpfff

Just as he was about to get a closer look, the fire, which had been roaring just seconds ago, stopped dead.

Not like a fire dying out from lack of fuel. Not like something doused with water either.

The flames, which had been climbing several feet into the air with thick smoke pouring off them, simply vanished. All at once, right in front of him.

The tree, charred black and a moment ago buried under smoke, was now in plain view.

It was massive, and that size was probably the only reason the car had taken the worst of the impact.

"There appears to be no one inside the—"

He noticed the empty driver's seat, which only added to his confusion. But when he looked up at the tree, confusion gave way to something closer to disbelief.

The leaves, still thick despite the fire that had just torn through them, were frozen completely in place.

What threw him even more was the charred leaves that had already broken loose, mid-fall, hanging in the air as if something invisible was holding them there.

"It's as if time itself stopped."

Hou Yi muttered, staring at the leaves, waiting for even one of them to drop.

(You are correct.)

A voice came from behind him.

He spun around, and nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

A woman with white hair and white lashes, wrapped in a robe so white it looked unreal, floated in front of him.

Four wings, covered in white feathers, spread from her back, rising and falling slowly, as if only adding to his confusion.

The wings were not flapping, not the way wings were supposed to, and yet she hung there in the air all the same.

Angel.

That was the first word that came to mind.

Hou Yi was certain the thing floating in front of him was not human. An angel, like something out of a story or a game.

Even if she had no wings and stood with both feet on the ground, he would still have had a hard time believing she was human.

No amount of surgery or cosmetic work could make someone look like this. It was simply not possible.

"Who are you?"

He asked carefully, though he was not sure why he did not feel afraid.

Uncomfortable. A tight, tensed feeling running through his body, born from not understanding any of it.

He swallowed hard, eyes locked on her, and felt his pulse hammering through him.

He.

Wait.

What?

Hou Yi pressed his hand against his chest.

My heart isn't beating. And yet I feel completely fine.

(Lee Hou Yi, you have been left behind.)

The angel spoke without a flicker of expression.

"What?"

(You have been left behind in this world.)

Her tone was blunt, almost careless, like she was running through something she had been forced to do.

"How... What do you mean left behind? What is going on?"

Panic finally took hold. Being left behind could only mean one thing here, some kind of event had taken everyone else on earth, and somehow not him.

As impossible as it sounded, Hou Yi had more reason to believe it than not.

(I am God's envoy, sent to deliver his message.)

She drifted up a few feet and settled back down.

(Humanity has been sent to another dimension, where Chi fluctuates constantly. There they will spend the next five years learning to sense it, so they can adapt more easily for the great strife.)

Chi? Strife? What is she even talking about?

Her answer did nothing to help him understand. If anything, it left him more lost.

"Strife? You mean war? Why would humanity need to go to war, and against who?"

(Your planet, Earth, is not the only place under God's care, and you humans are far from the only life he has created.

Countless other beings exist across this cosmos, some aware of their purpose, some not.

You humans are among the few who know God exists, and yet you have refused to acknowledge it, again and again, all the way back to the first two of you. Time and again you have failed at the one task given to you: to occupy this planet and care for it.

Over and over you have taken more than you needed from nature, hunted other species to extinction just to live a little more comfortably for your short lives, drained the life out of this world and poured the waste back into its waters, slowly killing it, and yourselves with it.

So God has begun to doubt you will ever get it right.)

Hou Yi listened, trying to take it all in.

He turned her words over in his head. He had heard of God before, sure, but never given it much thought. He had never set foot in a church in his life, so all of this was new to him.

"Wait, wait, wait. Not all of mankind is like that. Sure, some people are driven by money and power, but plenty of others actually want to make things better. You can't judge everyone based on some percentage!"

He argued, though without much hope of changing her mind. If there really was a God watching all of this, surely something like that had already been factored in.

(You are right. There ARE a few who spend their whole lives trying to do right. But that is exactly why this needs to happen, a few will never outweigh the many, especially when their resolve was never strong to begin with. A clean rejection is kinder than false hope.)

Hou Yi's face fell.

"So that's it, then?"

He felt hopeless, suddenly very aware of his own life and what might happen to it.

(That should have been the end of it. But God loves mankind, made in his image, far too much. So he has decided to give you one more chance.)

(Rejoice.)

The angel announced, arms spread wide. Her only audience did not look the slightest bit moved.

...

(Far from here, there exist the Therrians, what you would call demons. They too are part of God's creation, but lacking in morality, and so they were placed somewhere far harsher than this world.

God has decided to release them onto this planet, turning it into one massive battleground.

You may be wiped out entirely, leaving your race extinct and this world a better hunting ground for them. Or you may fight your way to survival.

Your fate is in your hands.)

The angel finished and began to drift upward. Hou Yi, watching her rise, waved his arms and started shouting.

"Wait! What about me? What am I supposed to do?"

He had not expected her to just float off without telling him why he had been left behind or what he was supposed to do about it.

She drifted back down, clearing her throat, one hand pressed to her lips.

(Ahem. My apologies. That speech tends to end in a way that makes it feel like the task is complete.)

Hou Yi stared at her, unsure what to make of any of it.

Can I even trust her?

He could not exactly say that out loud. What if it upset her and she actually left? Then what?

The angel turned and glared at him.

Shit. Can she read my mind?

(Yes, I can. So spare me the commentary.)

...

(For reasons unknown, you were excluded from the mass transmigration that took place earlier. So I have been sent to help you get back to the rest of humanity.)

Two questions surfaced in Hou Yi's mind right away.

What could have gone wrong in the process? And why him?

He had no intention of asking either. If it mattered, she would have told him already.

And did he even want to go back to the others?

Do I need to?

I was never happy to begin with. The bullying, my body, my family. I don't see how Chi or anything else changes that. If anything, it might make things worse.

Hou Yi sat with the thought for a moment.

The real question is, do I even have a choice?

"So you're just going to send me, just like that?"

(That is correct. But first, tell me your sector.)

"Sector?"

The word sounded strange to him. He had never heard his city or country called anything like that before.

(Yes. You humans have been divided into sectors based on the region you live in, 195 in total. Tell me your sector, or what you call your country here.)

So they're not all being sent to the same place. Makes sense, with all the different languages and cultures, grouping by country would be the simplest way.

Which means I could choose where I end up. Anywhere I want.

(State your sector now. This interaction has taken longer than expected. The portal will close in a few seconds.)

(Make your decision.)

Hou Yi looked her dead in the eye.

'Make your decision.' Why phrase it like that? She's already confirmed she can read my mind, so she has to know I'm thinking about lying about my sector. Which means either she doesn't care where I end up, or there's nothing she can do about it.

The angel stared back, clearly running out of patience.

(Ten seconds. State your sector, mortal.)

She did not show it, but she was growing restless. She had been sent to retrieve one last human, and the whole job was supposed to take ten minutes at most.

Between the rambling speech and the moment she had lost track of time, the window was nearly gone. She was not going to be the angel who botched a job this simple.

(Five seconds!)

She shouted, and Hou Yi's head snapped up, eyes wide.

"The name of my sector,"

He said, holding her gaze, then stopped, a nervous look crossing his face.

For three full seconds neither of them moved. The angel waited for his answer, ready to send him through in under a second once he gave it. Hou Yi looked like a man who could not quite make up his mind.

(Time's up...)

She said quietly, feeling the portal close.

(You absolute sloth of a human! Do I look like I'm joking?!)

She burst out, furious, unable to believe she had failed something this simple.

"What! Did the time already run out? What happens to me now?"