Reality overload

Ping…

Congratulations. You have achieved Level 10.

PING…

YOU HAVE RECEIVED NEW EQUIPMENT.

The system notifications felt wrong. Too bright. Too cheerful. Too normal for what was happening inside my chest.

I heard them only after my breathing finally stopped shaking. Even then, they sounded distant, like they were muffled behind a closed door. My emotions were still volatile, scattered everywhere like someone had thrown a deck of cards and said, “Here, catch!”

It was like the floodgates had been ripped open. All the things I’d shoved down just to function.

And my rationality, the part of my brain that usually kept everything neat and manageable, had dipped within said chaos.

Slowly, I loosened my grip on Charlie. My fingers felt stiff, like they didn’t want to let go. Riley had joined her at some point, one hand rubbing circles on my back, her expression soft and worried.

“You doing better now, Kris?” she asked, voice gentle in that big‑sister way she had.

I swallowed, trying to steady myself. “Yeah… thanks. I don’t know what came over me. It was like everything hit me all at once, and my brain just… noped out.”

Charlie didn’t say anything. She just cupped the side of my face with a hand that was still trembling, her eyes red‑rimmed.

“You scared me,” she whispered. “Don’t do that again.”

Her voice cracked on the last word. As she began to heal my wounds. The warm flow of mana washing the pain away.

“It won’t heal completely but it’s better than nothing. She said apologetically.

”Thanks sis.” Giving her a smile in thanks.

Behind her, Luke shifted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck like he didn’t know where to look. “Uh… yeah. You really had us going there. Thought we were gonna have to… y’know… carry you out or something.”

He tried to smile. It came out crooked.

He was worried too.

Nate stood a little farther back, pretending to fiddle with his staff. His eyes were shiny, and he kept blinking way too fast to be casual.

“I wasn’t crying,” he muttered under his breath. “There was… ice dust, yeah, ice dust in my eyes.”

Charlie shot him a look.

He immediately looked away.

Riley gave a small, sympathetic laugh and bumped her shoulder against mine. “Well, when a cute girl cries, you have to make her feel better. At least, that’s what my brother always said back when he was not a weirdo.”

She nodded like this was ancient, sacred wisdom, and I rolled my eyes at her use of girl.

I let out a shaky breath half laugh, half sob, and wiped at my face with the back of my hand.

For the first time since the cave swallowed me whole… I felt not alone.

Charlie still hadn’t let go of my hand.

Even after I stopped shaking, after my breathing steadied, after Riley and Luke and Nate all relaxed just a little.

Her fingers stayed wrapped around mine like she was anchoring me to the world.

I didn’t mind.

Honestly… I needed it.

But then something flickered at the edge of my vision.

A faint blue shimmer. My system UI. It opened on its own.

“Uh… guys?” I whispered.

The window expanded in front of me, translucent. My new equipment flashed across the screen, stats updating, numbers jumping.

LEVEL 10 — ICE PRINCESS (HIDDEN CLASS)

NEW EQUIPMENT ACQUIRED

NEW TRAITS UNLOCKED

WARNING: SYSTEM INSTABILITY DETECTED

My stomach dropped.

The text glitched, flickering, warping, letters bending into symbols I didn’t recognize. For a second the whole window distorted like someone had grabbed the edges and twisted.

“W‑wait—what is that?” I breathed.

Charlie squeezed my hand tighter. “Kris? What’s wrong?”

“I… I don’t know.” My voice came out small. “My UI is… glitching. Like—really glitching.”

The window spasmed again, a burst of static, a line of corrupted text, then it held solid, although still glitched out.

Nate stepped closer, eyes wide. “That’s not normal.”

Luke swallowed. “Is it… bad?”

“I don’t know!” My voice wavered. “What if it means something’s wrong with me? Or the class? Or— or—”

The UI flickered violently, then snapped back into place, stable for a moment.

FROST SURGE: UNCONTROLLED

EMOTIONAL STATE: CRITICAL

RECOMMENDATION: STABILIZE USER

My breath caught.

Charlie immediately moved in front of me, her free hand grabbing my other one, forcing me to look at her instead of the glitching window.

“Hey. Look at me.”

Her voice was firm, steady—the exact opposite of how I felt inside.

“You’re okay. You hear me? You’re right here with us.”

“But the system—”

“I don’t care about the system.”

Her thumb brushed a streak of dried frost from my skin.

“I care about you.”

My chest tightened.

Riley knelt beside me, ears low. “It’s probably reacting to your magic going haywire earlier. You froze an entire cave, Kris. The system’s probably just… catching up.”

Nate nodded quickly, blinking hard like he wasn’t about to cry. “Yeah It’s a new game of course that makes sense. It’s just… recalibrating, buffering, or something.”

Luke added, “Games glitch all the time. Remember that one game? My character model turned into a chair for half a dungeon?”

“That was not helpful,” Riley muttered.

But it made me laugh—a tiny, shaky sound—and that seemed to be enough.

The UI flickered once more… then faded out completely, dissolving into drifting motes of blue light.

Charlie let out a breath she’d been holding.

Her hand never left mine.

“See?” she whispered. “It’s gone. You’re okay.”

I nodded, even though my heart was still racing.

”what the hell is happening. First the gender crap, then the goddess with her class, and now this weird glitchy UI. I thought

“You don’t want to let go yet,” I murmured, pointing out her hand still clasping mine.

Charlie’s grip tightened instantly.

“I wasn’t planning to,” she said with a doting smile.

“Well… I think we should log and take a break for the night,” Charlie said, rubbing her eyes. “We’ve been on here about five—almost six—hours now.”

I blinked at her, then put a hand to my forehead in dramatic offense. “Aww, c’mon, Char. We still need to turn this quest in!”

Charlie didn’t laugh.

She didn’t smile.

She just turned her head toward Kris with that slow, mechanical rotation that always looked a little too predatory. The rest of the group went dead quiet. Even Luke stopped mid‑sentence.

“Kris.”

Her voice dropped into that deceptively sweet register. The one that meant she was done negotiating.

“We. Are. Logging.”

A tiny shiver ran down Kris’s spine. Not magical. Not UI‑glitch related. Just pure, primal oh no.

Riley whispered, “She’s doing the mom voice again.”

Nate immediately opened his logout menu like he’d been waiting for permission.

Charlie stepped closer, her avatar’s shadow stretching across the stone floor until it swallowed Kris’s boots. “You can turn the quest in tomorrow,” she said sweetly. Too sweetly. “Or I can personally escort you out of this dungeon right now.”

Kris swallowed. “That… won’t be necessary.”

“Good.” Charlie’s tone snapped back to cheerful like a switch had been flipped. “See you all tomorrow!”

And with a soft ping, her avatar vanished.

Luke exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for minutes. “I swear she’s scarier than half the bosses.”

Kris stared at the empty spot where Charlie had stood.

“…Yeah. Logging out sounds great.”

The logout countdown blinked in front of me.

3… 2… 1…

White light swallowed everything.

Then—

THUMP.

My body snapped back into reality like someone had plugged me into a wall socket. My lungs dragged in a sharp breath, and I jolted inside the pod.

“Ugh… that feels weird…”

The lid was still closed, soft blue lights glowing overhead. Everything looked normal.

A small shiver ran down my arms.

“…Huh?”

I rubbed my shoulders.

It wasn’t cold exactly. Not freezing.

Just… chilly.

Like someone had left a window cracked open on a mild winter morning. A faint draft brushed across my skin, enough to make goosebumps rise.

“Did the AC kick on…?” I muttered.

The pod wasn’t supposed to feel like this. Usually it was warm, cozy, perfectly climate‑controlled. But right now it felt like the temperature had dipped a few degrees.

I sat up, blinking away the lingering dizziness. The lid hissed softly and lifted open.

Warm room air rushed in, washing over me like a blanket. The chill vanished instantly.

“Huh. Guess the pod’s cooling system is acting up…”

I shrugged it off. After everything that happened in the game, my brain was too fried to question it.

Across the room, Charlie was stretching with a loud groan, arms over her head, back cracking like bubble wrap.

“Man… these pods sure can make you feel a little stiff,” she said, rubbing her neck. “You good, shrimp?”

I forced a small smile. “Yeah. Just… tired.”

She gave me a gentle look.

“Did you start using some new face wash?” Her words made me pause.

“Huh… no. Why?”

“Nothing, just your skin looks really clear today.”

Charlie walked over and ruffled my hair like always.

“Come on. Water, bathroom, bed. In that order,” she ordered.

“You do know I’m an adult. You don’t need to mess my hair like a kid… I’m eighteen now, almost nineteen…”

I slid out of the pod, feet hitting the floor, and paused. A tiny prickle of cold clinging to my arms.

“…Weird,” I whispered. “I wonder if the pod settings are set wrong. I’ll need to check that later.” I called to Charlie, but she was already heading toward the door, humming to herself, completely oblivious.

I shook my head, trying to clear the fog in my brain.

But as I followed her out of the room, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was… off.

“Ridiculous,” I thought as I followed her out.

Neither noticed anything odd. Nor did they notice the faint dampness on the pod lid where the temperature had shifted the frost around the edges of Kris’s pod.

The hallway light was way too bright after hours in the pod. I squinted like a gremlin crawling out of a cave.

“Ughhh… my back,” she groaned. “I swear these pods are comfy, but they always make me feel like I’ve been folded into a suitcase.”

I snorted. “You are basically a suitcase. Just… tall.”

She flicked my forehead.

“Watch it, shrimp. You’re just way too short,” she said, a little too smug.

“Hey!!” I retorted, holding my head.

We walked toward the kitchen for water, the house quiet except for the hum of the fridge. I rubbed my arms again. The chill from the pod had faded, but a faint coolness still clung to my skin.

“Bathroom’s free if you wanna wash up. I’ll take one when you’re done,” she said, looking at her phone messages.

“Yeah… okay.”

I slipped into the bathroom and flicked on the light. My reflection greeted me.

I froze.

“…Huh.”

My skin did look clearer. Smoother. Like I’d slept twelve hours and plastered my face with lotion. The faint dark circles I always had? Gone. My cheeks looked… softer? My jawline looked a little less sharp. My lips looked…

I leaned closer.

My hair looked the same as always… except maybe a little shinier? Less frizzy? Like it had decided to behave for once in its miserable life.

I touched my cheek.

“…Weird.”

I splashed water on my face, half expecting the mirror to glitch like my UI had.

Nothing happened.

Just my reflection staring back at me, looking slightly more like a K‑pop trainee than I remembered.

I dried my face and stepped back.

“Okay, Kris,” I whispered to myself. “You’re tired. You’re stressed. You fought a cave full of goblins. You’re imagining things.”

I turned on the water. Twenty minutes later, stepping out refreshed.

But as I walked down the hall, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was… different, and I had no idea why. Making my way to my room, I jumped into my bed, taking my blanket and rolling myself up like a burrito.

It didn’t take long before I drifted off. My dreams filled with things I couldn’t remember, but had a feeling of dread to them.

Morning came way too fast.

I blinked awake to sunlight stabbing me directly in the face. My whole body felt… weird. Not bad. Not painful. Just… off.

Like waking up in a body that wasn’t calibrated right. I groaned and rolled over, burying my face in the pillow.

“Ughhh… why do I feel like I got hit by a truck…”

My limbs felt lighter than usual, but also kind of… tingly? Like I’d slept on them wrong, except it was all of them at once.

I sat up slowly.

My hair fell into my face.

“…Huh?”

It looked… longer? Dang, I need another haircut, it seems.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to shake off the grogginess. My fingers brushed my cheek—

and paused.

“…Why does my skin feel… soft?”

Like I’d moisturized.

I frowned, rubbing my face again. I shook my head. No way.

Still feeling weird, I dragged myself out of bed and shuffled toward the bathroom, feet dragging across the carpet.

The moment I stepped inside, the bright bathroom light hit me like a slap.

I squinted at the mirror.

Then froze.

“…Okay. What the hell.”

It wasn’t dramatic.

It wasn’t even obvious at first glance.

But the longer I stared, the more wrong it felt.

My face looked… different.

Not changed changed.

Just… subtly off.

My skin looked clearer than yesterday.

My jawline looked a little softer.

My eyes looked… brighter?

My lashes looked longer?

My lips looked—

and the hair…

“Nope. Not thinking about that.”

I leaned closer, pressing my palms to the sink.

“Did I sleep… too well? Is that a thing?”

I splashed water on my face.The reflection didn’t change. Still me. Just… slightly upgraded me. I rubbed my cheeks again. “Why do I feel like a skincare commercial…”

A knock on the door made me jump.

“Kris?” Charlie’s voice. “You alive in there?”

“Y‑yeah! Just… washing my face!”

“Well hurry up, I made breakfast!”

I blinked.

Charlie?

Making breakfast. That alone was suspicious. I took one last look at the mirror. My reflection stared back.

Still me.

Just… off today.

I shook my head and stepped out of the bathroom.

“Okay,” I muttered under my breath. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Probably.”

But the weird feeling in my chest didn’t go away. I closed the door not noticing the layer of frost I left on the knob. And walked towards the kitchen.