Free Web NovelChapter 1: The Portal
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
I LOVE YOU
2 YEARS BEFORE
"At it again, Ruthless," the literature teacher’s voice cut through the classroom like a dull saw.
"At it again? What do you even mean? I just wrote it realistically," Ruthless thought, sitting back down at his desk.
As always, he was in a shit mood. It felt like he was hitting rock bottom, drowning in massive debt and deep depression—the kind they show in movies or what we see in reality. But Ruthless wasn’t like that. He was just a regular high schooler, living in a perfectly fine family with a good income. It seemed like he had absolutely no reason to suffer.
’But I’m not even suffering. I just despise society, social norms, and, of course, morality.’
For no reason. Just because.
’Most people divide the world into good and evil. But that’s just an illusion created by society for the weak. In reality, the world should be divided into efficient and inefficient.’
Ruthless believed that this was the only way people could reach the top and achieve all their goals. Meanwhile, the holy rollers who save just any random person waste a colossal amount of their energy on people who are ready to betray them the second a profitable opportunity comes along.
"Did he seriously write that again?" people started whispering around Ruthless.
He didn’t give a single fuck, because he knew he had written the absolute truth.
"How disgusting..." another classmate muttered, quickly putting on their social mask.
The actual assignment was to write about the fairy tale, discuss what it teaches us in life, and talk about its truthfulness. Ruthless’s class got the tale of the Golden Egg, which is extremely popular. One of the top girls in class, whose grades were always flawless, wrote a cookie-cutter, template answer and, as always, got a high score.
’Funny how people get rewarded for a lie, but scolded for the truth, and then they call this a "fair" world. It’s a joke.’
The fairy tale itself went like this: Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman. And they had a hen named Ryaba. The hen laid an egg, not a regular one, but a golden one. The old man hit it — didn’t break it. The old woman hit it — didn’t break it. A mouse ran by, flicked its tail, the egg fell and shattered. The old man wept, the old woman wept, and the hen clucked: «Don’t weep, old man, don’t weep, old woman: I will lay you another egg, not a golden one — a regular one!»
Everyone wrote something sweet and wholesome, while they were actually supposed to write about the truth. And here is what Ruthless wrote in his notebook:
1. The Trap of Reactive Thinking Instead of Strategic Planning The old folks in the text are a classic example of people living by reactions, not planning. The Truth of Life: Poverty is often linked to a person seeing only their immediate need ("I am hungry right now"). The old folks have no concept of "investment" or "the future." In their world, everything that falls into their hands must be immediately "consumed" or "destroyed." This is the exact same psychology that forces low-income individuals to blow their last money on instant gratification instead of building capital.
2. The Cognitive Dissonance Effect The deepest part of the story is why they are crying. The Truth of Life: People rarely cry over a lost opportunity (money). They cry because of a blow to their ego. It would have been easier for the old folks if they had just lost the gold. But what tortures them is that a mouse (a lower-order creature) turned out to be "more efficient" than them. This is the truth about human nature: we are ready to forgive our own mistakes, but we are never ready to admit that a fluke, or "someone less worthy," turned out to be more successful than us. The ego is often the main obstacle to success.
That’s exactly what he wrote, but as expected, the response was pure aggression and bad grades.
’Honestly, I don’t give a shit about grades or any of this. I just do it because I have no other choice,’ Ruthless thought.
Three hours passed. Class was over.
Ruthless packed his things into his bag as usual, left the classroom, and headed home, where his favorite work was waiting for him. But that top-student classmate was walking right behind him. Maybe she had some business with Ruthless, or maybe her house was just in his direction. Either way, it had nothing to do with him, so he could just ignore it.
’Or so I thought.’
"Ruthless, wait! I have a question for you."
He turned back, looking at his classmate. For some reason, she was blushing, and her face looked... well, pretty cute.
’Did she catch feelings for me or something?’ he thought instantly.
"Out with it already, I don’t have much time."
The girl scowled, looking like she expected a completely different reaction from him.
"I have a question: why did you write that? I mean, your literature homework. Why so dark?"
’Are you really choosing to waste my time on this?’
"Because it’s the absolute truth. I did exactly what the prompt asked."
"But you’re only looking at it from one side, the dark side. At the same time, you need to look at it with empathy too. Maybe they were genuinely crying because they missed out on efficiency?"
’If they actually cared about that, they wouldn’t be crying at all, because crying over what you’ve already lost is completely useless — you can’t bring it back. Instead, you should find another efficient path.’
’But if I start arguing, I’ll just waste my time. People like her will never get it anyway and will just stick to their own concepts. That’s just how people are. And I’m no exception.’
"Yeah, maybe you’re right," he replied shortly.
Then a silence fell between them. That could probably be taken as a sign that the conversation was over.
"If you don’t have any more questions, I’m leaving."
The girl suddenly grabbed Ruthless’s arm—tight, as if she would lose him forever if she let go right now.
"What is it now?"
"Ruthless, tell me... you don’t have a girlfriend, right?" she asked, blushing, her voice dropping to a soft murmur.
’Just what I needed, a girlfriend,’ Ruthless thought.
"No, why?"
"We-e-ll, then maybe I..."
A round, crimson portal suddenly snapped open in the ground. It wasn’t very big, just large enough to fit Ruthless and his classmate.
"What is that?!" the girl screamed, having no idea where the portal came from.
Ruthless just calmly looked down...
His pupils dilated, as if he was genuinely surprised and shocked for the first time in his entire life.
’No way... An Isekai?!’
