Chapter 0: Prologue

It was a peaceful day.

The sky was clear, the breeze was cool, and the dancing grass blades shimmered in the warm sunlight.

In such a peaceful scenery, I let out a sigh with a feeling of helplessness.

“Ugh, damn it.”

“You… I told you not to use such bad words.”

The chattering sound irritated me.

When I glared, I saw a small creature.

It looked like it was about to lecture me with its hands on its hips.

An humanoid creature with silver hair.

Come to think of it, what exactly was this thing?

I felt uneasy for no reason and answered gruffly.

“Mind your own business, emergency rations.”

“Em, emergency rations? Traveler, did you just hear that?! Xiwu called me emergency rations!”

‘Emergency rations.’

It seemed like Paimon got offended by my words, as she started flying off somewhere.

I shifted my gaze to follow her.

There, I saw a beautiful girl.

She had soft golden hair and fiery red eyes that reminded me of the sun.

A pure white flower adorned her hair, and her delicate, pale arms entered my line of sight.

She was beautiful.

Any man, no, anyone regardless of gender, would inevitably have such thoughts upon seeing her.

Her appearance was more like an artistic craft than that of a human.

With her unreal beauty, she wore an awkward smile.

“That’s not wrong, right?”

“Ugh, the Traveler betrayed me!”

No, it wasn’t an awkward smile.

Was she smiling because she found a teasing opportunity?

As usual, Paimon began whining, and I felt a headache coming on again as I turned my gaze back to the meadow.

Heavens, why am I…

My mind began recalling the events from earlier.

The memory of how this strange companionship began.

***

That day had been ordinary.

And unfortunately, days that begin with such a description tend to lead to tragic conclusions.

<Recent news on the Zangsum backdoor controversy.jpg>

“Yeah, even if you delete Zangsum, the backdoor remains~ haha, can’t even unsubscribe~ haha haha”

→ “Why are you even playing this Chinese game?”

→ (An emoticon combining Xi Jinping and a snail)

→ “Not just the backdoor, but the sign-up terms are weird too haha, S.B haha”

“Yeah~ My personal info is already worth 180 won in China~”

The game I had been waiting for was a Chinese-made game called ‘Genshin Project’, a title that was hard to fathom in terms of naming sense.

This game had been plagued with a few issues even before its release.

First, it was accused of plagiarizing a famous game.

Then, the gacha pull rates were so abysmally low.

And even after the launch, there were problems with the sign-up terms, personal information leaks, and backdoor programs.

To sum it up, it was a game that could win the “Controversy of the Year” award, as the controversies never seemed to stop.

But well, what could I do?

I’m a weeb, and weebs live their lives playing weeb games.

Regardless of my feelings toward China, my body and mind craved a new open-world weeb game.

However, I didn’t know what was going to happen.

As usual, when I ignored the “weird” sign-up terms that people had warned me about, I had no idea what would unfold.

And I had no idea what those terms even contained.

The moment I clicked ‘agree’ and started the game, I never expected that everything in front of me would turn white.

That’s how I ended up falling into the continent of Teyvat.

Not by my own will… but by someone else’s.

While I was being carried away by the current, the “Traveler,” or rather, Lumine, with her unreal beauty, pulled me out with a fishing rod.

After that, the plot progressed predictably: my mental state broke down, I whined about wanting to go home, cursed, and with nowhere to go, I ended up traveling with Lumine.

I didn’t know if there was any way to get back home, or at least figure out why I ended up here.

Then a guide named “Paimon,” who I couldn’t quite understand, joined us.

And slowly, I adapted to life in Teyvat and arrived at where I am now.

Well, truth be told, it hasn’t been that long.

Anyway, even though I suddenly dropped into the continent of Teyvat, I’m just an ordinary person without any power.

I heard that if you possess the “Vision” of the gods, you can control the elements.

But I doubt the gods of Teyvat would give something so precious to a lowly being from another world like me.

So, the sighs I let out are not just because of my helplessness in being dropped into this world, but also from the shame of being of no help to my companions.

I, Baek Siwoo, have lived independently and without asking for help from anyone.

Now, I’m just a burden.

At that moment, in front of me, the sunlit eyes suddenly appeared.

“Siwoo, are you worried about something?”

Her delicate features, flawless white skin, soft golden hair, and clear, unblemished eyes all harmonized together like a painting.

The reason I inhaled sharply was probably out of surprise.

It was a feeling close to admiration.

“…Siwoo?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just come closer and talk. You scared me.”

As I avoided her gaze, Lumine tilted her head, clearly not understanding why.

She’s disgustingly pretty.

But well, I guess it’s fortunate that I met Lumine right after falling into this world.

If I had fallen somewhere strange and met weird people, I wouldn’t have been able to live as peacefully as I do now.

If it were Earth, traveling with someone as pretty as Lumine would have been impossible.

Anyway, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing to fall into Teyvat.

I thought as I tried to rise from the ground.

[Prologue Act 1: The Outsider Stirs the Wind]

[With the opening of the prologue, some game features have been unlocked.]

“? What is this?”

Strange, unreadable text appeared in front of my eyes.

To be continued…