The neon-lit city pulsed like a living organism, its heartbeat reverberating through the towering skyscrapers. Amid this urban jungle stood the unassuming research facility, Oracle Lab. Inside its walls, a project both dreamlike and nightmarish was underway: the AI-powered future prediction device known as Prophetia. This machine could instantly analyze immense datasets and project an individual’s future as vivid, tangible video fragments.
Ryo Soma, a young man recently graduated from university and unemployed, had been selected as one of the test subjects. Weighed down by an indistinct fear of the future, his motivation to participate was simple: the monetary compensation was too good to pass up.
“Are you ready?”
The voice of a lab technician in a white coat echoed across the sterile room. Ryo nodded silently, seating himself before the device. A massive screen loomed ahead, and a cold, metallic headset was placed on his head, amplifying his growing unease.
“Now, we will show you a fragment of your future,” the technician announced.
With a mechanical hum, the screen lit up, bathing the room in an otherworldly glow. An image emerged, and Ryo’s breath caught in his throat.
It was himself, but in a dimly lit room. He was panting heavily, his back to someone unseen, his fists clenched tightly. Suddenly, a dull, sickening sound echoed, and a shadowed figure collapsed in the darkness. Then, Ryo bolted from the scene, his footsteps fading into the void.
“What… is this?” Ryo’s voice quivered.
The screen abruptly went dark, leaving only the machine’s lifeless hum.
“This is the future as predicted by Prophetia,” the technician said flatly. “Within a few weeks, you are highly likely to… kill someone.”
Ryo’s heart stopped for a moment.
“That’s impossible!” he shouted. “There’s no way I’d ever kill someone!”
The technician merely shook his head. “Prophetia’s accuracy rate is 99.7%. Whether or not you believe it is up to you, but almost no one has ever successfully avoided the predicted future.”
From that day onward, Ryo lived in a state of perpetual fear. The dim room, the thud of the fall, the shadowy figure—these haunting fragments refused to leave his mind.
“Destiny is a lie,” he muttered to himself, trying to force reassurance into his thoughts. “I’m not the kind of person who would do something like that.”
But the image of his foretold future clung to him like a curse. He withdrew from his friends, avoided social gatherings, and scrutinized every person he encountered, wondering if they were the figure destined to fall.
Then, the day arrived. Through an eerie combination of chance and inevitability, Ryo found himself standing in the dimly lit room from the vision. The events had unfolded so naturally yet unnervingly, as though some unseen force had guided him there.
“So it’s impossible to escape…” he whispered to himself.
Behind him, footsteps echoed. Ryo turned sharply to see one of the lab technicians standing in the shadows.
“You were chosen,” the man said, his voice calm yet menacing.
“What are you talking about?”
“The person you’re supposed to kill is someone who betrayed us—someone from Oracle Lab. The moment Prophetia identified you, you became part of this grand design.”
Ryo’s mind raced as he tried to make sense of the man’s words. Then, he felt a weight in his hand—a gun.
“Now, test it,” the man said with a cold smile. “See if you can defy your destiny.”
Ryo stared at the weapon in his hand, his thoughts screaming.
“I won’t do this. I can change my future!”
His finger trembled as it hovered over the trigger. The air grew thick, every second stretching into an eternity. The question clawed at his mind: could he really break free from what had already been written?
The choice was his to make—but could the future truly be rewritten?
