Volume 1. Chapter 1. Summoned Without Warning.

The school bell rang, and the city felt calm. Students headed home with cheerful faces.

"Hmm...?"

Cini, who wanted to leave the classroom, was shocked to see a magic circle on the blackboard.

Somewhere else, a teenage boy from another school caught a glimpse of a glowing magic circle reflected in the convenience store mirror above him.

"Gosh, why did the world admit I'm an angel without wings?"

Rii admired himself in the mirror, full of narcissism in front of the mirror, attracting the attention of teenage girls from other schools who considered him a strange man.

"Look, he's so strange. You shouldn't approach him."

Two teenage girls left Rii, who was still amazed by the circle above his head.

Meanwhile, the door to the house opened. Vail had just gotten home, kicked off his shoes, and collapsed onto the sofa.

"Finally, I can rest; I hate math in the last lesson."

Just as he closed his eyes, he heard people screaming and a woman's voice commanding someone to speed up the summoning.

The magic circle appeared right under the sofa, the three circles swallowed them simultaneously.

The same circle reappeared in the dark, taking out three teenagers and closing again.

"This is the first time I’ve seen a magic circle that followed me to the school hallway."

"This place is so dark, especially. I should feel pain after falling from a height."

Cini was confused that he didn't feel the pain he should have.

"That's because you landed right on top of us."

Two weak voices were heard, making Cini surprised to listen to the voices of his online game friends.

"Vail, Rii?"

"Wait... is that you?"

Cini wanted to make sure and was still sitting on their bodies.

"How did you know my name?"

Rii was a little surprised that Cini recognized him.

"Is that so important, other than getting out of the way? You two are so heavy."

Vail had difficulty breathing and was no longer able to support the weight.

Cini moved aside so that Rii and Vail could stand.

"So, why are you guys here?"

Cini was so curious that he could meet his two online game friends in a dark place. 

“I should be the one asking, why are you in a dark place like this? Then how do you know my name?”

Rii was as curious as Vail, who still thought he was in his house.

“No, I’m the one asking. Why are you in my house, and how did you know my name?”

“Home?”

They were both confused by Vail’s words but simultaneously smelled an unpleasant odour.

“Do you smell something strange?”

Cini wanted to make sure his nose was right.

“...it’s like blood.”

Rii agree that smelled like a blood.

“Don’t scare me. Just tell me—what are you doing in my house?”

Vail still thought he was in his house and smelled a little blood.

“If this is your house, why don’t you turn on the lights?”

Cini was a little annoyed by Vail’s words.

“I never turn off the lights. If it’s dark, maybe the electricity company is doing rolling blackouts.”

Vail said what had been embedded in his mind about the rolling electricity program.

“Did anyone see my phone?”

Rii wanted to ensure Cause didn’t find his phone, which he used to take a picture of himself when the magic circle appeared above his head.

“How can I see if this place is dark?”

Cini complained a little about Rii’s words.

Rii’s hands felt the ground, looking for his phone, but it wasn’t a phone he found. Instead, it was a severed human hand.

Suddenly, this made him scream and throw the hand back.

“Aaa!”

“Now what?”

Vail was getting annoyed by Rii’s scream.

“I just held a severed hand!”

Said Rii what he had found.

“Don’t joke, this place is so dark. How did you conclude that it was a severed hand?”

Cini thought Rii was deluded about his surroundings because their place was unlit.

“I held someone’s hand, believe me—”

Vail turned on the light from his phone, shining it at Rii’s face and making the person stop talking.

“Have you gotten any light?”

“What does that have to do with anything? And can you stop shining that light in my face?”

Rii rubbed his eyes because he felt dazzled by the phone light. While Rii rubbed the eyes, Cini saw blood on the wall around them.

“Why do you look like you just got a door prize?”

Vail was surprised to see Cini silent.

With a trembling body, he pointed to the blood on the wall behind Rii. Vail’s eyes widened when he saw the wall was covered in blood.

And they were even more shocked to see corpses, as well as several body parts on the ground they were standing on.

“We should get out of this place soon.”

“Are you seriously scared? It's just kidding, right?”

Rii teased Cini a little.

“Think you’re brave enough?”

“Of course I’m scared.”

Rii’s answer made Cini a little furious. He wanted to punch Rii’s face hard.

They walked through a hallway littered with human body parts. Cini got a little closer, and so did Rii.

“I know we're all scared, but can you stop tweaking me?”

Vail complained about Rii and Cini’s actions, which left him with no space.

“Guys, look…”

Cini accidentally saw a witch woman who had fallen unconscious among the body parts.

They got closer to see more clearly. She wore black gemstone earrings, had black hair, and a beautiful face stained with her friend’s blood.

“She’s still alive.”

Vail informed after seeing the woman’s stomach still breathing.

“Saw that coming. Don’t tell me we’re about to take in a woman we know nothing about?”

Cini guessed a little about the storyline he often watched in fantasy anime.

"I didn't expect you to know. Your name is Rii, right? Can you help me?"

Vail was a little amazed by Cini's great thinking.

"Okay..."

Cini gave another warning and told him that the woman could be the murderer.

Instead, he was given a phone and asked to lead the way. They managed to get out of there but had to fight their way out of the forest they didn't know.

In the middle of the journey, Cini stopped again.

"Why did you stop?"

"We've passed this place before."

Cini told the reason he stopped walking.

"Are you sure?"

Rii wanted to make sure because, from the start, he had not noticed his surroundings when walking.

"Where are you going?"

Vail saw Cini walking in the opposite direction and approaching a tree.

"I want to mark this tree as our starting point."

Cini looked for a stone, made a cross on the tree, and then led the way in the other direction.

The sky turned to evening, and they returned to the starting point.

"Devil...!"

Cini hurled the phone into the air in frustration.

“…why did you throw the phone?!”

Vail became annoyed because Cini had thrown his phone and immediately went to look for it, leaving Rii and Cini there.

While searching, he did not find the phone. But he found a house made of solid wood.

“House?”

“I should tell the others.”

He stood up and immediately returned. Right behind the tree, A woman in green stood behind the tree, holding a phone.

“How can there be a house here?”

They stood right in front of the wooden house.

“Let me check first.”

“Okay...”

Rii and Vail slowly lowered the woman and walked into the house to check because it would be used as a temporary shelter.

There was nothing suspicious. The place looked like someone had just been living there.

“How can it be occupied?”

Rii was quite curious about the condition of the house.

“I found a room, maybe enough for her.”

Vail said that the house was habitable.

“We can let this woman rest well.”

“You’re right,”

Vail agreed with Rii, and they raised the women again, asking for Cini’s help. After laying the woman down, they returned to talk about something.

“A magic circle? Are you serious?”

Vail and Rii were slightly surprised to hear Cini’s words, who claimed to have seen a magic circle on his classroom’s blackboard.

“I ignored it and didn’t want to leave the modern world. But on every small board on every staircase, it always appeared until I ran away in fear but was chased.”

Rii and Vail laughed when they heard Cini’s story.

“Laugh at other people’s suffering.”

Cini was a little annoyed by their laughter.

“Then what about you guys?”

“When I passed the minimarket, I saw a circle above my head in the mirror. I took out my phone and took a picture, but the circle slowly descended and devoured me.”

“What about you?”

Rii tells what happened to him and asks Vail about the disaster that had befallen him until he was in the dark.

“I don’t remember anything. I only know I went home. Rest on the sofa, and suddenly, I fell off the sofa with two of you on top of me.”

Vail told Rii and Cini what happened to him.

“However, this is the first time I’ve heard of someone being chased by a circle.”

They laughed again, and Cini couldn’t hold himself back anymore. He punched both Vail and Rii in the face to shut them up.

"You can't take a joke."

Rii rubbed his cheek, still reeling from Cini’s punch.

"I have a question. Earlier, you called me by my name. How did you know it?"

Vail wanted to be sure how Cini could know his name.

"Huh? It’s me — Rabi, your online game buddy."

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet and cheerful again when Rii said Rabi's name.

"...wait a second,"

"Are you Rabi?"

"Yes, and this is our first meeting in person."

"Rabi!"

They were cheerful and happy again.

"My Friends...!"

Cini was very happy, and when he was about to hug his two friends, the atmosphere changed again.

"What is Rabi?"

The cheerful and happy atmosphere turned silent because Cini punched Vail and Rii's faces again.