The Legendary Programming Mage

Whooosh!

Huh?

The moment I entered my body I felt a sudden torrent of wind and in an instant I was out.

"Is something wrong with me?"

The only plausible reason was my mana.

Did the red book consume mana or something?

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Statu—"

Mhmmm...

My breath caught in my throat as a sharp pain stabbed at my heart.

"Ouch, that hurt. Did I reach heavy mana—"

My words once again cut off in my throat, but this time it wasn't from pain; it was a cold feeling of something flowing out of my nostrils.

I quickly placed my hand on my face and there it was...

"Blood?"

Why was I bleeding?

Before I could process what was happening another sharp pain surged through not just my heart but everywhere at once.

Thud.

My legs gave out and I fell to the ground.

My knees were limp and my hands were trembling.

Huh?

The world seemed to turn upside down, zooming in and out at the same time.

I could somehow feel the codes and antivirus stirring.

This feeling....

I knew it.

Death.

It was the same way I felt in my final moments.

I tried to grit my teeth but ended up biting my tongue.

However, I felt nothing.

No pain. No sting.

The only thing that filled my body was the agony from whatever was stabbing at me relentlessly.

"Damn it."

I couldn't die like this. Especially not at someone's whim.

My gaze suddenly sharpened even through the pain and I tried getting up but to no avail.

Pain. Fear — that was what I felt at that moment.

I tried my best to concentrate.

The first thing I needed was to stabilize the code.

If I made the backup then I would mostly be fine no matter what happened.

My mana, which I could barely control now, began moving the codes around.

Yes...

They were forming, albeit slowly.

However, my hopes were short-lived.

Bzzzzzz....

I could hear it clearly: the codes inside me crashing against each other and the rot using that opportunity to slip out.

If I didn't stop now, all my efforts so far would be in vain.

Hahahahaha...

A breathless laugh escaped my lips.

What kind of fucking test was this?

Building my body and falling back to last place.

The codes began shaking again inside me.

'No... no... no.'

The thought had come up.

The thought of a genius falling back to become worse than those he once looked down on.

The burning gazes of those who once looked up to me.

I... I didn't want that.

The same gazes that the people of the streets back on Earth gave those geniuses and models who once thought they were the best but ended up on the streets with them.

That was why even after I was named a genius I fought so hard to be the best.

What people love more than role models are those they can look down on.

Everyone always wanted someone lesser than them, and once you who were at the top fall to the bottom.

My hands began trembling uncontrollably, tears spilling from my eyes.

"Get your act together, you're..."

Wait.

Who am I again?

Ahhhh....

My hands flew to my head as a growl escaped my lips.

"I'm..."

My name.

What was my name?

Why is the world turning black?

Am I... scared?

Hooooo...

I took a deep breath.

Haaaaa—ahhhhhh!

I tried to exhale only for a scream to escape.

— "Hey, isn't that the former Apex?"

— "Wow, I can't believe you fell so far."

— "Hahahaha, and he thought he was better than us."

— "Hahaha."

— "Hahahahahaha..."

Please don't laugh at me...

I'm... scared.

It was so frightening here.

Why was everything blank?

Where did anything go wrong?

I was sure that I was excited a moment ago about making my backup...

Did—Did that happen?

Was everything just a lie I fabricated?

I felt the world, my memories and everything I knew shatter.

That's true.

Reincarnation doesn't exist.

Transmigration doesn't exist.

Everything was all an illusion I created.

Perhaps I'm still a beggar in the street.

— "Oi, kid, are you going to take the two dollars or not?"

I raised my gaze and in front of me was a middle-aged man in a suit with a rough expression.

"Why are you giving me money?"

"Huh?" The man's face twisted, that same expression I hadn't seen for so long. "A useless beggar dares—"

He clicked his tongue and just left.

"Why was he—"

Growl!

A loud sound of a stomach growling rang in my ears and as I lowered my gaze what met me was a tattered child.

Torn clothes. No shoes. And hands so cold and thin that someone might have thought they belonged to a dead person.

Huh?

— "Hey Park, don't you want to eat today?"

Snapping my head to the side my gaze met that of an old man.

He was someone I knew.

Yes, the man from my alleyway.

He was always kind to me back then.

"Old man, didn't I give you money to leave the streets? What are you doing here?"

The man laughed loudly.

A laugh that felt like it was waking me up to reality.

"Kid~" he smirked. "I hope you actually do that for me one day."

He staggered upward and patted me with his dirty hands.

They were filthy, but they were once my only solace.

Tears spilled down my face before I knew it.

The man smiled warmly. "It's time to wake up, kid."

"Aren't I—"

The world shattered again and light filled my eyes.

A large room that could be mistaken for a five-star hotel.

The fresh, cold scent of roses.

"It..." My voice stammered. "Was all real..."

The tears in my eyes spilled like a stream.

What had just happened.

Sweat still clung to my clothes tightly and my breathing was still shallow, but I could move.

Raising my gaze to scan the room my eyes locked on the dressing cupboard.

It was glowing red.

I gritted my teeth as anger flared in my eyes.

"This damn—"

Before I could take another step, an immense, immeasurable amount of energy crushed me to the ground.

Haaa...

My throat shook as I tried to inhale.

The cupboard shot out to the sky, and as soon as the book floated out it fell with a loud boom, shattering immediately.

A bright red light shone around my room as everything turned red.

The light didn't just envelope my room but everything outside it too.

It was so bright that I wouldn't have been shocked if everyone had seen it.

Then—

Silence.

Everything went still, before everything made of glass shattered into billions of fragments.

I felt the bright light shoot my body out of the window that no longer had glass.

In a second I was tossed out of the room.

Smash!

My body slammed into one tree but even the force of that wasn't able to stop the power the light had shot me with.

I shattered that tree.

Then another.

And another.

My consciousness was turning hazy and I could feel the blood pooling out from every single part of my body.

My bones were broken and my flesh torn.

My body finally crashed into the administrative building and stopped.

My corpse framed the wall, glued in by my own red blood.

I couldn't move. My bones were all less than ash, and my muscles didn't exist anymore.

Huh?

The moment I had a thought I saw myself back in my room at the moment the glass shattered, but this time I wasn't flung out.

I gasped for air, each one ragged and uneven.

Drip. Drip.

Cold sweat ran around every single part of my body.

I felt like I could wet myself if I didn't hold it in.

However, there was something in my room that wasn't there before.

A man.

He was holding the red book in his hand and had the same aura as it.

His hair was a little long.

Red as blood itself with streaks of black.

He sat on one of the cushions close to my bed reading the book, a broad red sash resting on his black military uniform.

He turned to me; one of his eyes was bright red while the other a shade of moonlight grey.

He was handsome, impossibly so.

It was to the extent that I couldn't even look at him.

But there was something familiar about him.

Ah...

Everything was his doing...

And—

I was groveling at his feet while he casually read a book.

Worse yet I knew who that was...

"You're..." My voice almost shattered but I forced it out. "You're me."

---

(Added on 30th September 2025)

A/N:

Sorry guys,

I know the quality of my novel has dropped lately, and I'm seeing a lot of inconsistencies myself. I also promised you 15 chapters by the start of the month, but I don't think I'll be able to deliver.

Two days ago, I found out that the hole in my heart I had as a kid has reopened, it's now much larger. I can barely move or think, and honestly, I'm scared.

Hahaha… still, maybe if all this ends prematurely, I'll wake up in the world I've been writing about. That thought honestly keeps me going.

What I'm trying to say is: I don't want to leave the plot unfinished. I at least want to leave a legacy behind.

I have 5 chapters stockpiled and will post them as I travel to Singapore for my operation. After that, I probably won't be able to write as much, but I'll still do my best to deliver a story you'll love, even if it's just one chapter a day.

I hope all of you who've been reading will stay with me on this journey. Webnovels have helped me so much through tough times, first reading The Author's POV two years ago when I had my first surgery, and now writing my own.

I hope that, just like TAPOV left a mark on me, this story will also leave one — even if it's only a speck — in your hearts too.