I spotted a mirror on the wardrobe.
Better check first.
I walked toward it slowly, bare feet meeting the cold wooden floor. The mirror returned a face that felt unfamiliar — yet somehow mine. Black hair, slightly disheveled. A lean build, roughly 172 centimeters. An ordinary face. Not the kind anyone would remember for long.
Same as always.
Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, I honestly couldn't tell.
I exhaled and turned away from the mirror. My eyes dropped back to the black chain coiled silently around my wrist.
Better get familiar with it now than be caught off guard when I actually need it.
I closed my eyes.
How do I bring it out?
I tried to feel for it — and it was there, a slow pulse beneath my skin, like a second heartbeat I'd never noticed before. I focused on it.
Something shifted.
Black chains began crawling out from my arm, winding upward toward my shoulder. I resisted the urge to pull back — it felt heavy, strange, like wearing something alive.
What if... a glove?
I focused. The chain seemed to listen — it trembled once, then flowed downward toward my palm. It felt like pins and needles, like ants marching in a line along my veins. Bit by bit it gathered, compressed, shaped itself.
I opened my eyes.
A black glove encased my hand — smooth, solid, and feeling like it had always been a part of me.
I clenched my fist and opened it again. It moved with me perfectly.
"Okay." I muttered quietly. "Maybe you're a little trustworthy after all."
The chain didn't answer, of course. But somehow, the weight of it against my hand felt a little less terrifying than before.
Just a little.
I walked to the window and pulled back a thin, dusty curtain. Out there, a foreign world waited — stone buildings, a pale blue sky, people passing below in clothing I'd only ever seen in films.
I took a deep breath.
Standing here wasn't going to get me anywhere.
I turned from the window and headed for the door. The moment my foot crossed the threshold —
Ding.
[ Quest: Enter the Academy. ]
I stopped.
"The Academy?" I repeated slowly. "You're telling me to go to school, System?"
I knew The Loom was set in an academy — that much the synopsis had mentioned. What I hadn't expected was that I'd have to enroll myself. And there was one more problem, a bigger one —
I was male. In a world where the majority of the population was female. With no magic whatsoever.
How was I supposed to get in?
Ding.
[ Method: Figure It Out Yourself. ]
I stared at the panel for a long moment.
"...Really helpful. Thanks, System."
The panel vanished without so much as an apology.
I looked at the door ahead of me, then at the black glove on my hand, then back at the door.
Fine. If the System wouldn't help, I'd find a way on my own.
I pushed the door open and stepped outside.