MY RIDER SYSTEM

Seven Days to Kill

Ding!

A sharp sound rang directly inside his head. He snapped his eyes open in alarm, only to be met with a glowing blue screen before his eyes.

"What?"

【 CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING A PLAYER_】

His breath quickened immediately.

“What the hell is this?”

The glowing words hovered steady despite the rain. And strangely, he could’ve sworn he’d seen those exact words before—maybe on a screen, an old game, or some faded poster in a café?

His head throbbed painfully.

‘Where have I seen this...?’ he wondered. With a hand against his forehead, the words felt oddly familiar, but he couldn't remember where from.

Too many strange things had happened already— Riders, Games, battles that defied reason, death that refused to stay final… and now floating messages suddenly appearing out of nowhere?

Maybe he really was losing his mind.

'Could trauma even do this to someone? Hallucinations, maybe?' He'd heard stories about people breaking after witnessing horrible things, but he'd never believed them true.

Maybe this was just that—his brain finally snapping apart.

But… something about the screen before him looked too real.

He squeezed his eyes shut and counted to three. When he opened them again, the screen was still there. In fact, more words were appearing, one after another, as if an invisible hand was typing them out.

【 Your old life has ended. 】

【 I will decide how you use your new life. 】

【 That’s the way the cookie crumbles. 】

Kael’s heart began to race. He took a shaky step back, water splashing around his feet.

“What the hell does that even mean?” he muttered.

Then, another message appeared.

【 Mission Assigned: Eliminate Vir Ossium 】

Kael's stomach dropped.

【 Objective: Kill the target within the given time. 】

Player? Eliminate?

And now... kill? What was happening to him?

He belatedly remembered the message. It was the same as the one that appeared the night before he lost consciousness and made that strange deal.

【 CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING A PLAYER_ 】

At the time, he'd thought it some kind of joke. Or a dying hallucination. But now… it didn’t feel so fake anymore. It felt like a rule being enforced.

“None of this makes any sense,” he whispered, shaking his head. “What does this even mean?”

He tried to blink the words away, but they stayed right in front of him, clear as ever. To make matters worse, a new line appeared.

【 Time Limit: 168:00:00 】

The numbers glowed red for a moment before settling into a menacing orange, leaving Kael breathless that very second.

‘Seven days,’ he realized, silently.

'Seven days to kill something called Vir Ossium.'

He didn’t have a weapon. No plans. He didn’t even know what it looked like.

As if responding to his thoughts, the glowing text glitched. The letters broke apart, rearranging themselves into an image.

A face appeared. Its skin was pale and hanging loose in parts. One eye stuck out more than the other, and both of them glowed a little yellow, like a cat’s eyes in the dark.

Then rather slowly, it smiled, sending a cold crawl down Kael's spine.

But while he stared at the horrifying image, something else was happening.

On the rooftop drenched in rain, a shadow moved behind him. It was barely visible in the downpour.

Kael felt the strange presence before he saw it.

He turned slowly—

and the dark figure was already above him. It had lunged to claw at him.