Welcome to a Generic Romance Fantasy World! Steps Heavy as Lead
Welcome to a mass-produced romance fantasy world! My footsteps feel like they weigh a ton.
I headed to work gazing at the pre-dawn moon, and before I knew it, deadline after deadline dragged on under the midnight moonlight. My shoes scraped against the asphalt, making a dull ripping sound.
I just want to live comfortably without thinking about anything.
My eyes, crushed under the monitor's glow for the fourteenth straight hour, felt gritty like they were full of sand. Was it because I kept repeating the same office drudgery every day? My neck was stiff as a board. I wanted nothing more than to lie down on the asphalt right then and just breathe.
Why does this world make us struggle and flail day after day? Can't we just live easy without a care?
Lost in such trivial worries, I hurried toward the last bus. That's when it happened.
My footsteps halted abruptly. It wasn't echoing in my ears—it was a bizarre vibration scraping right through the center of my brain.
Something thud dropped from thin air. A thick something that felt like old leather or a throbbing lump of meat. Before I could dodge, my hands reflexively caught it.
A book?
In my hands was a black, thick tome. The cover's texture was subtly rough yet soft. Carelessly, oh so carelessly, I pried open the slit that looked just like the cover.
That instant.
"Huh?"
Why is everything getting so bright? The sky split open. It poured down. From the sliver of night sky between the buildings, countless stars cascaded like a waterfall. My vision burned red, blue, geometric colors searing away.
"Wh-wh-what the—?!"
Not letters. Worms. No, stars. Something crawling across the page slithered up my pupils. Huge. Too huge.
My body swelled like a balloon. The universe forced itself into me.
Vast—so vast there was no end in sight. Stars exploded in my gut. I could touch them—touching, touching—the edge of the cosmos brushing my fingertips.
My head—
the sky—
My vision engulfed everything. The whole world swallowed whole, swallowed again and again.
The stars whispered.
I understand.
I understand it all.
Everything was visible—too much, too vast. My eyes felt like they would burst.
The end.
I saw the end.
The beginning and the end rested in my hands—too immense, too overwhelming.
I was becoming the universe.
No—
the universe was devouring me.
Stars poured in—endlessly, endlessly—flooding me. My eyes burned, my mind fractured—
No… it was bright. Too bright.
Then it darkened.
A black light flowed through my veins.
Stars—stars—stars—
they filled my mind.
I was becoming a star.
I had touched the end.
Touched—touched—touching—
Too big. Too vast.
The universe crammed itself into my skull. My head swelled, expanding to the size of everything—expanding, expanding without limit.
Stars became visible—
and they spoke.
I know everything.
I see everything.
I feel it all.
I am the world.
The world is me.
Endless. Infinite.
Space folded inside me. Time bent—no, it didn’t move at all. All of time existed at once.
My vision faded.
Truth—
the truth—
I reached the end.
And I touched it.
"Ugh... duh?"
"Ugh...?"
My head spun round and round. I blinked, blinked. The ceiling loomed incredibly high. No, had I gotten small? A musty dust smell hit my nose. The floor was freezing cold. As I tried to curl up, my hand looked weird.
"Huh...?"
Chubby, tiny hands caked with grime. Sleeves ragged and frayed. Baggy skirt draped over my legs. Me, an adult man? I had a job... wore bigger shoes. But now?
I glanced at the nearby cracked mirror. What stared back was silvery hair cascading like moonlight. Large, deep purple eyes blinked in the reflection.
"Eeeeng?"
My voice came out thin and squeaky.
"Eeeeek!"
I toppled backward in shock.
"I'm a girl!"
As I yelled, the girl in the mirror's mouth gaped wide and she fell too. I clawed at my hair.
"Gasp!"
I'd become a little girl. Calm down, think, think like an adult! Smart adult thoughts! I was walking down the street. A weird leather book dropped from above. I opened it carelessly... and massive stars flooded my brain whooooosh...
"Ow, hurts...!"
Recalling that far made my head throb like needles stabbing. Complicated thoughts popped bang bang and flew out of my skull. Didn't want to think anymore.
That's when it happened. A blue square window popped up in front of me with a ping.
"A chat window?"
The text was all garbled with weird symbols mixed in. Strangely, I could kinda make out the meaning. Couldn't read every word, but the sense slowly seeped into my head.
Yeah, this was a chat window. Inside the blue frame, people with bizarre IDs were bickering fiercely.
Book? Brain melting? Intelligence drop? Aha! I pouted my lips. That jerk 'Room's Wanderer' threw a book at my head.
"Book!"
So that's why my head hurts. Why I turned into a girl! You bastards! Evil. Total jerks. Gotta get mad. Point fingers, demand my old body back, give 'em a piece of adult fury.
I clenched my fists and glared daggers at the blue window.
"Hey, you evil...!"
Grrrooowl!
"Eek...?"
Thunder rumbled from my tummy. Suddenly my nose tingled, tears welled up. All the anger, the vows to argue—poof, gone. I was starving. A hole punched right through my gut.
"Ugh... so hungry..."
I squatted, hugging my belly. Adult pride, revenge—none of that mattered. Food first.
"Food..."
Why do humans have to eat? It's so hard. So sad.
"Ugh..."
Too hungry, wanna cry.
That's when.
"Huh?"
Amid the musty dust, a heavenly sweet, nutty aroma wafted in. I looked up—a shabby cloth-wrapped brown lump appeared before me.
"Here, eat this. Don't cry."
A small, rough hand offered a crudely broken half-loaf of bread. Dry and hard-looking, but to me now, it shone brighter than any feast.
Bet it tastes amazing!
I took it like I was enchanted. Looked up at the giver. Who?
A girl my age, with kind eyes peeking through tousled brown hair, stood smiling shyly at me.
"I'm Elia. New today? Never seen you before."
"Ugh... Elia...?"
I chomped a big bite, mumbling blankly. The bread was rough. But chewing long brought out a growing sweetness.
"Ahh..."
With my belly a bit fuller, my situation sank in. A crooked embroidered name tag clung to my worn collar. Weirdly, I could read it.
"M-me... I'm Chloe."
"Chloe? Pretty name! Your hair's gorgeous too—like moonlight!"
Elia plopped down beside me, chatting away. Seemed my age. How old was she? Her bright smile made something buzz in a corner of my brain. Dreamy haze sharpening... a faint, distant memory bubbled up.
Hey, this is my fave lately, check it out. Title's "The Regressed Villainess Gives Up on Living Quietly". There's this kinda frustrating heroine who... does this and that...
Café clamor, someone swiping a tablet, excitedly yapping. On screen: a semi-realistic 2D illustration of a girl like the one before me now—but more mature. A beautiful saintess smiling shyly amid holy light. Flanking her, handsome young nobles.
Totally frustrating! But the protag gives her a proper schooling. Name was Elia, right?
Anyway, her face is drawn super pretty!
The memory fizzled like old film static. Bread crumbs on my lips, I gawked wide-eyed.
"Elia...?"
Familiar name. Protagonist from some famous story, I think.
The blue window ahead was still rowdy.
"Ahh... so noisy..."
I waved my hand at the wildly scrolling chat.
"You okay?"
"Oh, nothing!"
I brushed it off to the brown-haired girl staring at me.
Elia. Yeah, Elia? Super pretty, super kind, super... headed for tons of suffering.
A short certainty slowly seeped into my dizzy head. This was probably a novel world. The girl before me was one of the protagonists. And I was...
"Ugh... bread's yummy."
Complicated thoughts didn't last three seconds before scattering. Chewing more makes it sweeter and tastier.