Chapter 1: Prologue

I sat at my desk, indulging in social media, the so-called “time-wasting service.” True to its name, there were countless useless posts, but for some reason, these meaningless posts became incredibly enjoyable during exam periods.

As I scrolled through my timeline, a particular post caught my eye.

『Pressing this button will transport you into the world of the genre I write.

(You can leave once the story is finished. But if it’s not completed, who knows)』

Share = Press Like = Don’t Press

A photo of a red button was posted, with text instructing to decide whether to press it or not. It was a truly absurd post claiming that pressing the red button would transport you into the world of the genre the author writes. However, during this exam period, such an escapist post was highly entertaining.

I pressed share to show this post to my friends and left a comment.

+++

Comment: Guys, I’m contemplating whether to press the button, lol. Studying for exams is so boring.

➥You already pressed share, dummy. You pressed the button, haha.

➥➥I only pressed share to show you guys. My heart hasn’t pressed it yet, lol.

+++

I typed away, giggling about pressing or not pressing the button, but the topic eventually circled back to exams. My friends and I exchanged a few messages, imagining the not-yet-finished exam period, and started discussing going to karaoke or drinking.

After playing on social media for a while, I lay on my bed with my phone in hand. Although there was still plenty of studying left unfinished on my desk, I felt that pulling an all-nighter wouldn’t help, so I swiftly jumped onto the duvet. The soft and fluffy bedding embraced my tired body.

Ah, the ultimate comfort. Having given up on everything, I felt completely at ease in both body and mind. Exam studying? What’s that! I pulled the cozy duvet up to my face.

I had often heard from teachers and adults that health is the most important thing, and as a good child-adult (child + adult), I diligently followed that advice.

Tomorrow, exams and everything else would be over, so I closed my eyes, indulging in the sweet imagination of drinking with friends and going to karaoke to relieve stress. As darkness enveloped me, the chirping sounds of small insects in the grass grew louder.

…My studio apartment was in the middle of the city. Despite finding it strange, I couldn’t resist the heavy drowsiness. As I drifted off to sleep with the chattering sounds of nature as my lullaby, a small, murmuring voice echoed in my head.

‘You pressed the button! You won!’

‘Is this kid on the list?’

‘Yep! But can we just send them right away?’

‘It doesn’t really matter.’

‘…This kid doesn’t seem to have a specific genre they write.’

Ah, so noisy. I’m trying to sleep! Be quiet!

‘Oh, they’re about to wake up. Let’s just send them to any place from the book they recently read. They can achieve a happy ending there!’

‘Alright.’

‘Have a good trip…’

Feeling as if I was being pressed down, I tossed and turned, distracted by the voices muttering inside my head, not my ears. As soon as I did, the noisy chatter of the voices disappeared. Only then could I fall asleep again.

I should have fallen into a deep slumber just like that…

Brr, it’s cold. Although I was definitely sleeping in an enclosed room, I felt a chilly breeze brushing against my body. What’s going on? Did I leave the window open? Being in the middle of a deep sleep, I was too lazy to get up and close the window. Despite my small studio, I chose to pull the thick duvet up to my chin rather than getting up to eliminate the cause.

If only I had grabbed the fluffy duvet, that would have been the case.

With my eyes closed, I fumbled around to find the duvet, but I couldn’t grasp anything. That wasn’t all. Even the sensation of my hands flailing around my body felt strange. Only then did I sense that something was off, and I opened my eyes. Instead of my barren studio, what I saw was the blue sky. ...Blue sky?

Did some natural disaster occur while I was asleep? Unable to comprehend the situation of seeing the sky before my eyes, I blankly stared at the white clouds drifting leisurely. As I gazed at the blue sky with my mouth slightly open, my wandering soul slowly began to return.

However, even with my soul returning home, I couldn’t accept this situation. Because even though my soul had returned to its rightful place, my body remained in a state of being away from home.

What the?

“Chirp.”

What the?!

“Cheep!!”

What the?!!

“Cheep!!!”

“Cheeep…”

Having been placed in an unfamiliar location while sleeping, I felt a sense of frustration. Filled with dissatisfaction at this inexplicable situation, I stomped my feet on the ground.

Squish, squish.

I might have fallen asleep, but I’m not sure if I actually did. Anyway, what unfolded before my eyes now was not my familiar room but a forest filled with a refreshing sky and vibrant greenery.

Unsure of what had happened, I decided to walk forward to escape from here. With each step, my body swayed from side to side. What’s wrong with my body all of a sudden? Am I sick somewhere?

When I first got up from lying down, my body felt oddly stiff, and I nearly fell over sideways. At that time, I thought it was just a loss of balance from waking up, but now, my hands, feet, and entire body felt as if they didn’t belong to me.

I tried to organize my thoughts by racking my brain in this incomprehensible situation, but whenever I attempted to concentrate, my energy suddenly drained from my body. As if blocked by something, the most crucial part of my mind wouldn’t function properly, as if it were obstructed. At the moment, I could only engage in simple thinking.

Assuming it was due to the sudden situation, I stopped thinking for the time being and proceeded forward.

This place was incredibly fascinating. The green grass growing on the ground was as tall as my body, and the surrounding trees seemed hundreds of times taller than my eye level. As a result, with each step forward, the enormous blades of grass collided with my body, and if I weren’t careful, it felt like they might poke my eyes.

Everything was utterly absurd.

Could I still be dreaming?

“Cheep?”

That’s right! Come to think of it, this doesn’t make sense at all. How can the grass be as large as my body, and the trees grow so tall that they pierce the sky?

Now that I think about it, in dreams, your body usually doesn’t move according to your thoughts. Whenever I discuss the topic of dreams with my friends, everyone says there are times when their body doesn’t move well, as if trapped underwater. I’ve experienced it a few times myself. Of course, this is the first time my consciousness has been this clear, but…

“Chirp, chirp.”

I keep hearing chirping sounds in my ears. There must be a lot of birds in this dream forest. With the constant chirping, I feel like scratching my ears.

I led my stiff body forward. However, either this world was too vast, or because it was a dream, no matter how far I walked, I couldn’t see the end. Nevertheless, I didn’t give up and ran forward, huffing and puffing, moving my legs rapidly. This crazy dream! Why am I so out of breath?

After running until my stamina was depleted and I was gasping for air, I looked back.

What?

“Chirp!”

This is all I could run?! What’s going on?

I couldn’t hide my astonishment. The tree I had been keeping an eye on was only slightly behind me. What kind of messed up world is this? Sigh. Seeing that no matter how much I walked, the distance didn’t increase, I dropped my shoulders in disappointment. Of course, being a dream, it felt like I had no shoulders.

As I walked aimlessly without rest, a sudden, immense reaction was felt within my body.

This is serious.

“Chirp.”

I’m hungry.

“Cheeep…”

Perhaps from walking too much, my legs lost strength, and I plopped down. Fortunately, there was a large rock behind me, allowing me to lean back and rest.

To think I’d be this hungry in a dream. It was truly a realistic dream. I let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky.

This must be a lucid dream, right? When will I be able to wake up from this dream? I slowly blinked and gazed at the clouds drifting leisurely. The vast blue sky, cotton candy-like clouds. And a diamond-shaped net…

A net?

“Cheep?”

And so, I was captured by an animal trader. After being caught in a large net and, in what seemed like an inevitable sequence of events, placed in a metal cage, I finally realized it.

I was a bird, what a crazy world.

🐤

Unable to put up a plausible resistance, I was dutifully transported to an animal store. The store wasn’t large, but it housed many animals I had never seen before. They all seemed to be in the same predicament as me, quietly resting inside narrow metal cages. However, I still couldn’t easily accept this situation and couldn’t remain still.

Displayed outside the store, I rapidly turned my head from side to side. Passersby would approach and stare at me intently, then enter the store as if enchanted. They would converse with the person who appeared to be the owner of this store and then leave. Meanwhile, I merely blinked my eyes and gazed blankly into the void.

Is this a dream?

Several days passed like that. Having endured profound humiliation all this time, I was no longer a person capable of rational thought.

Peck, peck, peck! Clang, clang.

People passing by the animal store invariably whispered among themselves as they watched me passionately gnawing on the metal bars. Trapped in the cage, I was engulfed in extreme anger and couldn’t cool my head. I wiggled my body and glared here and there.

What are you looking at? What are you looking at?

“Chirp! Cheep!”

Don’t look! I’ll bite you!

I fiercely barked at the people who looked at me with curiosity.

Me, a bird! Me, a bird! I couldn’t contain my rage at this unacceptable reality. With nowhere to vent this immense anger, I diligently gnawed on the metal bars. However, only noisy sounds filled the air, and nothing else changed.

After gnawing on the metal bars alone for a while, I exhausted myself and plopped down. As I sat down with a thud and laboriously lowered my head to look down, I saw short and thin bird legs.

“Cheeep…”

When I was first captured and brought here, I thought it was a dream. So I believed that if I took a deep breath and fell asleep, everything would be resolved when I woke up. However, even after several days passed since being trapped in this narrow metal cage, the situation remained unchanged. I didn’t wake up from the dream. Only after witnessing the alternation of day and night multiple times could I realize that this was reality.

…I’m a bird. How did this happen?