He pressed a hand to his chest as his heart pounded hard.
Blood pounded in his ears like drums. One wrong move, and it could tip into a heart attack.
After the panic faded, he dropped onto the short steps outside and stared at the spot where the old man had vanished.
No matter how he tried to explain it, nothing about what just happened made sense.
This wasn't normal—it was supernatural, and he knew it. He was caught in something way beyond him.
Anyone else would've cracked by now—at least a little. But not him.
His mind ran on a different frequency, maybe because being a genius meant being just broken enough to accept the unthinkable.
'Who the hell is my grandpa? And why did he drop me into this mess?' He rubbed the back of his neck.
But after thinking it over, he realized that shouldn't be his priority.
Right now, the real threat was ending up like the old man. Whatever got him could come for him.
'I need to get out of this freaky place first... but what if I disintegrate the second I step onto the road too?'
That was the part gnawing at him, the old man's final words about "inheriting this place."
Whatever that meant, it sounded more like a curse than a gift.
'No... I can't hesitate. I need to try something,'
Gulping a mouthful of saliva, he walked toward the spot where the old man vanished.
He kept his distance at first, eyes scanning the ground for anything out of place.
That's when he saw it.
A red crystal, glinting faintly under the eerie light. It looked like a diamond, but way too big—easily the size of two fists, maybe more.
If he was being honest, it looked exactly like the mana crystals from his game. . Only this one wasn't pixelated.
Looking around, he spotted a broken branch half-buried in the dirt and grabbed it, throwing it hard.
It flew a few feet—then slammed into an invisible wall with a dull thud, stopping mid-air.
An invisible barrier.
'Shit,' he stepped back a bit, searching the area for any hint of a way past the barrier.
But no matter where he threw, the branch couldn't pass through.
He swallowed the rising frustration and closed his eyes.
'Maybe the answer isn't out there, but inside.'
With no other options, he looked again at the motel. It felt like a haunted house. Dark, quiet, full of shadows and hidden secrets.
The peeling paint and cracked windows looked like they were staring at him, angry that he came here.
Nothing actually changed. It was just his brain interpreting things differently after witnessing something intense
This is a natural response—the way the nervous system processes strong experiences.
It's kind of like when someone falls in love—their whole world changes, and the person they like seems perfect, even more attractive than usual.
But after a breakup, people often start seeing the flaws they used to ignore. Most of the time, they focus only on the bad parts and forget the good.
'What have I gotten myself into?
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he felt the cold air cling to him like an oppressive fog. It was odd, especially with the sun blazing overhead.
"For God's sake, Grandpa—whoever you are. If you're gonna give me something, and you've got superpowers or whatever, then at least make it look cool. Not like... this."
The light suddenly dimmed, turning day into night.
"Fuck!" he stumbled back.
Panic built inside him like rising water as he backed up, pressing against the invisible wall.
This was insane. Even the bravest person would struggle with something like this.
"I'm really sorry—even though I don't even know what I did wrong! Was it the gaming? The anime? That one time I watched those weird fetish videos? I was just curious! I swear I stopped at the five-second mark—no, wait, seven! But I promise, that was it!"
He kept talking, but mostly to calm himself down—his words didn't really add up
Suddenly, the invisible wall behind him trembled. Then, without warning, it started to push him back.
"I'll stop gaming. No more of that degenerate stuff. I'll start exercising," he babbled, struggling to hold his ground, muscles straining as his thick legs fought against it.
But it was no use.
The pressure kept building, pushing him back step by step until he stumbled against the motel's short stairs.
thud!
He collapsed onto the cold floor, gasping for air.
'I'm dead. This is the end for me,' he muttered between heavy breaths. 'I just hope I still make it to heaven... even if I die a virgin.'
'Hey, that should count as extra points for purity, right? Right?'
With hope gone, his defense mechanism kicked in. Instead of giving in to fear, he started cracking jokes.
Facing bad people was one thing, but a ghost?
That was a whole different level. It was like expecting a single ant to take down an elephant.
Closing his eyes and bracing for the worst, a sudden thought struck him—the paper.
He remembered the old man's words 'You are the successor.'