"Ughhh! I can't do this! This is way too much for me!" I groaned, furiously scribbling on a pile of scrap paper as I attempted to solve the grueling problems from the prep material for the exam—“The Exam That Decides It All”—in the country where I lived.

  At just 16 years old, I wasn’t particularly bright, though I liked to think I was a notch above the average person. But my competition? They had spent like around the last five years single-mindedly preparing for this behemoth of a test. Meanwhile, I had frittered away my time indulging in leisure, goofing around, and avoiding responsibility. Even in the critical two years leading up to the exam—widely regarded as the decisive phase for serious preparation—I procrastinated shamelessly.

  Now, with less than a year left, I was in full-blown panic mode. My mind raced with regret. Why had I wasted so much time? If only I could travel back and warn my past self to buckle down! But who was I kidding? I knew my old self would scoff at the warning and continue the same careless routine. And here I was—unable to solve even the so-called “easy” problems my peers breezed through.

  The subjects covered in the exam—Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics—were unforgiving. This was no ordinary test; it was ranked as the second most difficult exam in the world I used to live in. Yes, you read that correctly—the world I used to live in, implying something extraordinary: I no longer belonged to that world.

  No, I wasn’t dead. But somehow, inexplicably, I had been transported to a completely different realm.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  It happened in March, during one of my desperate attempts to manage stress. With less than ten months until the exam, I was spiraling. Hoping to clear my mind, I decided to take a walk around my neighborhood—I know, I shouldn't be wasting time like this. With my wired earphones in place, I immersed myself in a Japanese song, feeding my inner weeb.

  As I strolled through the streets, the sight of others enjoying their freedom made me burn with envy. They were carefree, living their lives as they pleased, while I was shackled by the oppressive weight of expectations. My mind wandered to the things I longed to do: binge-watch the anime collecting dust on my “Plan to Watch” list, play the games I had purchased but never opened, and dive into the myriad hobbies I had once loved. Game development, bookbinding, even the dream of writing my own novel—all had been sidelined by the looming shadow of that wretched exam.

  Lost in thought, I turned back toward home, lamenting the hours I had squandered. That’s when I noticed someone gesturing at me. Their lips moved, but the music in my ears drowned out their words. Confused, I glanced around and saw a crowd gathering, their expressions a mix of urgency and fear.

  I tugged out one earphone, but before I could fully process the situation, I heard it—a sound unlike anything I had ever experienced. It wasn’t incomprehensible because of my limited vocabulary; it was fundamentally alien. The sound was ephemeral, slipping through my senses as though it didn’t belong in this reality.

  Before I could react, darkness swallowed my vision, and I collapsed.

  When I regained consciousness, I was overwhelmed by exhaustion. A blinding light pierced through my half-open eyes, forcing me to shield them as I sat up. My surroundings were a blur at first, but as my vision adjusted, I took in the sight before me.

  I stood atop a cliff, gazing down at a sprawling kingdom-city. Its medieval architecture was straight out of a fantasy novel, with towering walls encircling the settlement to defend against unseen enemies.

  The landscape around me was surreal, its biome unlike anything I had ever seen. The trees shimmered with a pearlescent shade of blue, and strange, otherworldly creatures roamed the terrain. Every detail screamed of an unfamiliar, fantastical reality.

  My heart raced as a singular thought consumed me:

  "It finally happened... The thing I’ve only seen in anime... I’ve been transported to another world!"