[Nightmare]

Before Helix could react, a crimson-red object flew at him and attached itself to his neck.

It instantly transformed into a crimson-red tribal tattoo of a sun.

A video game interface opened before his eyes, and a chat box launched.

Words started typing themselves on the screen in a frenzy.

—

"You've been granted the title of [The Protagonist].

Do you accept? [Yes/No]"

—

Helix stared at the screen in disbelief before closing his eyes and calming his beating heart.

The journeys of his favorite light novel protagonists flashed before his eyes.

Here was his chance to live the life he had read about since he was a young boy.

His action was instantaneous.

Helix chose the answer [No] without the slightest bit of hesitation.

—

Two days before.

"Rejoice! You three have been chosen to journey to Myriad.

As knights of the Royal Army, you shall receive a [Nightmare], a unique skill set with enormous power.

You'll use these powers to fight powerful creatures and acquire further skills.

You will obtain legendary strength beyond anything you could imagine!"

"Will we get to use magic!?" A female teenager asked with glittering eyes.

"Mmhm! There is a form of mana in the world known as spirit particles.

It will allow you to alter the laws of physics and summon spells with mind-bending power." The emissary replied.

"Is there a system!?" A male teenager asked enthusiastically.

"Are you asking about a method for tracking your skills and growth?" The emissary asked after tilting his head.

"Yes!" The teenager replied with excitement in his eyes.

The emissary nodded with satisfaction on his face.

"All bestowed with a Nightmare can track their [stats] as you call them in this world.

You can view this information simply by touching a marking you'll get on your neck." He explained.

Two of the three high school seniors being addressed were ecstatic about the news they had just received.

They grew up playing RPGs and reading light novels, so it felt like a dream.

As for the last one—

"Sir Helix, do you have any questions?"

The person in question was sitting on a large crate in the alleyway with a melancholy expression.

After a moment's pause, the teen sighed.

"Yes, do you know how many felonies you just racked up in that one statement?" He asked with a mocking smile.

Everyone looked at him in shock.

"Abduction of minors.

Involuntary servitude.

Intimidation at the threat of force.

Making minors kill things for you.

Potential assault.

And after all of that, you tell us to rejoice." The teen commented with a caustic laugh.

"You sound like Yakuza."

His friends frowned with bitter expressions.

"Why do you have to be so dramatic, Helix!

I'm thrilled at this opportunity!" The female announced.

Helix sighed.

"Lina, David, did neither of you catch that we didn't receive an invite?"

His friends looked at each other in confusion.

"We were [chosen]. We didn't receive an invitation or get presented with an [opportunity]." He pointed out in exasperation.

"That makes it even better, doesn't it?

We're the [chosen] ones, so we're certain to get special privileges.

Isn't that right?" David asked the emissary excitedly.

The emissary nodded with a grin.

"Hoh? What can we do there that we can't do here?" Helix asked with masterfully acted curiosity.

"You'll be able to travel the world and fly through the skies on large beasts.

If you invest time in yourself, you'll achieve success, become rich, and even be able to get a harem—or reverse harem in your case." The emissary announced while nodding to Lina.

Helix's friends were practically salivating at the thought of harems and wealth.

"Hmmm… Interesting… So if we work hard, we can become rich, powerful, and gain the occasional ability to fly.

Then we could end up with harems…

I'm not sure how that's different from investing in our futures, becoming rich and powerful, and buying a private jet to travel the world.

Women tend to flock to people with private jets." He muttered to himself with a false pensive gaze.

His friends were dumbfounded and irritated but couldn't argue.

"That's not the same thing, Helix!" Lina declared.

"We're graduating next month.

Are you ready to put on a suit and tie and live a boring, depressing life kissing ass to your superiors?" Lina snapped.

"You… do understand that our kidnapper is wearing a suit right now, yeah?" Helix retorted with a lifeless expression.

His friends looked at the emissary as if they had seen them for the first time.

To their surprise, the emissary was indeed wearing a suit.

"Please don't get the wrong idea." The emissary replied casually.

"From what I learned, suits are a sign of respect in your world. Therefore, I put on this suit to show respect to you.

Suits of this variety don't exist in Myriad." The emissary explained with a nervous expression.

"So… hahaha… you mean that you purposely… haha… dressed up like Yakuza for your trip to abduct us?" Helix asked while bending over and laughing.

"I… uh…" The emissary stuttered awkwardly.

"Helix!" The young woman huffed bitterly.

"Yes, Lina?" He replied calmly.

"Don't be rude. Even if you don't want to go, you can at least be respectful to everyone else." Lina chastised.

Helix sighed.

"Trust me, Lina, I'd gladly part ways with you both here if I could." Helix chuckled.

"But do you think I can refuse?

The guy has traveled here from another world looking for the [chosen ones].

Do you think that he'll calmly leave empty-handed?"

The two looked back at that emissary and then back to Helix.

They understood his point but had skepticism in their eyes.

Helix burst into laughter.

"Don't tell me… hah hahaha… that you're seriously questioning the strength of our kidnapper… haha… you're joking, right?" He asked with a bewildered expression.

Everyone became quiet.

"He just told you the world has systems, magic spells, and superpowers to slay monsters!

Do you honestly believe he can't overwhelm a lanky pack of teenage virgins?" Helix asked sarcastically.

Lina and David stared at him with confusion in their eyes.

It wasn't that they didn't believe him.

It was that they hadn't fully processed the situation.

Helix gave the two a mocking smile.

"I'd understand your subconscious skepticism if our emissary was a human.

But you're staring at a talking cat in an expertly tailored Yakuza suit.

If that doesn't scream [trust me, I'm from a fantasy world], I don't know what does."

As Helix pointed out, their emissary was a talking cat.

He looked like a hybrid between a tiger and a lynx. He had reddish-orange fur that was marbled with gold streaks.

"We… uh…." Lina stuttered.

Helix sighed.

"Look, you can be excited, but don't underestimate our kidnapper.

His [Nightmare] probably turns him into the size of a grizzly bear or something.

Or am I wrong?" Helix asked while flashing the emissary a grin.

The emissary looked at the three of them awkwardly and started fidgeting.

However, his nervousness was unnecessary.

Lina and David's expressions did a complete 180, and they looked at the emissary with crazed expressions.

"Is it true?" David asked with excitement in his voice.

Lina, too, started to get lost in wonder and thrill.

Seeing their excitement, the nervous emissary caught a second wind.

"I'm… not sure what a grizzly bear is, but my Nightmare makes me rather large."

The cat explained while scratching the back of their ear with its paw awkwardly.

"If I couldn't control it, I'd probably break the overhang above us by transforming into my final form."' He added while pointing up with his paw.

Everyone looked up. The overhang in the alley was at least 12 feet high.

Helix's friends' enthusiasm lost control, and they began asking the emissary questions in a blind fury.

Helix sighed in defeat.

He was hungry.

Food was the only thing he had on his mind.

If this cat showed up and took them out to a fancy meal, he could at least accept his fate with a full stomach.

"Helix! Don't you want to live out our childhood fantasies?" David asked eagerly.

"No? If I had a choice in the matter, agreeing to this would be a 6 out of 5 on the lack of common sense scale." He replied with a tone laced with sarcasm.

"Don't listen to him." Lina sneered.

"He's not adventurous enough to be our leader anymore.

I doubt he can even create a worthy videogame."

Growing up, the group played board games on their weekends.

Helix created creative fantasy worlds and brought them to life with his imagination and acting.

He was now an aspiring videogame developer, but he sounded like a bitter adult going through a midlife crisis.

"Come on, Helix!" David cried.

"If this small cat could become a tiger the size of a grizzly bear, imagine what we'd be able to do as the [chosen] ones!

We'll be op super cheats!" He declared while clenching his fists in anticipation.

"That… is the problem, David." Helix replied with a sigh.

Lina and David looked at him with puzzled expressions.

"What do you mean [that's the problem]" Lina asked with bewilderment painted on her face.

"If a cat that size is a super cheat, Myriad has significantly more powerful people and entities.

So why would they travel to another world searching for aspiring NEETs to fight their battles?" Helix chuckled.

The teens fell silent. Helix just shattered their blind enthusiasm in one sentence.

"You get it, now? Myriad isn't an RPG.

We're not wearing Nerve Gear, connecting to Unilink or Kalcon, and hooking up to a game called [Random Word Online]." He reminded them.

"We're currently in the real world, near the dumpsters of our school, talking to an overpowered Yakuza Cat.

I'm sure there's an OP leveling system, and we'd walk in with broken stats.

But there's no coming back to life in the real world.

We're not going to get hit 100 times by our enemies while our health regenerates faster than their damage points.

We're going to die; that's why they're here." Helix argued.

His friends looked at the ground bitterly.

The emissary, too, was wearing a bitter expression, but it seemed more grave.

"No, we will die. If a kingdom with cheat characters stronger than Yakuza Cat needs help, our OP super cheats might break even.

I bet if I didn't interrupt our esteemed kidnapper over there, they would have said something like, [we need you to tip the scales of war in humanity's favor to save our world].

Or am I wrong?"

The cat looked at him with impressed eyes filled with shame.

"Unfortunately, you are correct."