NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Jeffrey glanced to his side.
The massive truck had stopped just an inch from his body. Its giant wheels hovered slightly off the ground, and the metal hood loomed like a frozen giant caught mid-roar. Every detail was crystal clear—the dust on the headlights, the grime smudging the bumper, even a tiny insect caught on the chrome plate.
The distance was truly… razor-thin.
One blink—and his body would've been crushed under tons of steel.
Suddenly, something foreign crept inside him.
A primal instinct.
A command to move. Run. Survive.
And Jeffrey followed it without hesitation.
His body, as light as a shadow, lunged forward—crashing through the frozen crowd. His shoulder slammed into someone's chest, sending them stumbling backward.
And time… resumed.
"AAAH!!"
Screams exploded from the mouths of stunned onlookers.
The truck blared its horn. Tires screeched. Metal groaned. Shouts and chaos merged into a dissonant crescendo.
People scattered. Some pointed toward the road, wide-eyed, sure they'd just witnessed a fatality.
But—
Jeffrey stood upright at the roadside, panting hard, his cracked glasses fogged with cold vapor.
He was alive.
No wounds. No blood.
He had escaped—somehow.
"Wait… wasn't he just in the street?!"
"God, I saw it! He fell! He should've—!"
"Are you okay?!"
Several people rushed to him. A middle-aged woman placed a hand on his shoulder. A man in office attire offered a bottle of water. A schoolgirl already had her phone out, trying to call an ambulance.
But Jeffrey said nothing.
He turned away. His eyes rose—to the rooftop where Liana had stood just seconds ago.
Empty.
Only grey clouds above, and the faint silhouette of birds in flight.
No white-haired figure.
Liana was gone.
As if she had never been there to begin with.
Jeffrey clenched his jaw and scanned the crowd. People still tried to speak to him, their voices noisy and overwhelming. He nodded vaguely, stepping back slowly, then turned his head.
In the crowd, he searched—for the young man. Pale face. Trembling body.
The one who had pushed him.
But he was gone.
Vanished like dust.
Maybe fled out of fear.
Or disappeared for some other reason entirely.
The noise of the crowd faded, like a memory slipping out of focus. The world moved fast, but Jeffrey felt like he stood between two realities.
"Chrono Lock…" he whispered. "Time… froze."
He placed a hand on his chest. No injury. No trace of trauma. Yet his body trembled—not from fear or cold…
…but because something had awakened.
.
.
.
Night crawled slowly across the city like black ink soaking through paper. Distant traffic still hummed in the background. In a cramped third-floor apartment, behind creaking windows and worn wallpaper, Jeffrey Cain stood frozen before the cracked mirror in his bathroom.
His breath was heavy. His body slick with sweat. But it wasn't exhaustion that filled him now—it was euphoria, bubbling and bright.
He was alive.
And more than that…
He had awakened.
After washing his face and changing out of his wrinkled uniform, Jeffrey sat cross-legged on his thin mattress in the corner of his room. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply…
And then, the screen appeared.
░▒▓[CHRONO SYSTEM INTERFACE]▓▒░
USER: Jeffrey Cain
CLASS: Time Aberrant
LEVEL: 1
EXP: 0 / 100
Available Stat Points: 0
ACTIVE SKILL:
[Chrono Lock (Lv. 1)]
Jeffrey's eyes widened. His mouth hung slightly open.
The glowing blue screen floated before him like a hologram from a game.
Only this time… it was real.
"Time Aberrant…" he muttered, repeating the class name. "Sounds so damn cool."
He grinned without meaning to. The name had a strange elegance to it—not something generic like "Time Mage" or "Chrono User." No, "Aberrant" meant an outlier, a deviation… a mistake in the system.
Suitable for him.
"Level one… and zero EXP." He frowned slightly as he read it aloud.
"EXP… Does that mean I can level up?"
Maybe. Like in games. By defeating enemies, completing objectives… or getting revenge on those who made his life hell.
The thought alone sent a hot thrill through his veins.
He moved on to the stats.
"Pretty average," he muttered. The baseline of a healthy guy—not weak, but not impressive either.
"Decent. Probably from all that evening jogging."
Three days a week, every week. A habit born not of discipline, but escape. Maybe it helped more than he thought.
"Whoa… that's high."
He rarely got sick. He survived beatings, stress, mental breakdowns. Maybe this was why. Not luck. But resilience—his body refused to break.
Then—
Jeffrey blinked. Then blinked again.
"…Seriously?" he murmured. "That high?"
He'd always known he was quick with theory—math, strategy, even magical theory he couldn't practice. But thirty-nine? That was nearly off the charts.
"Intelligence doesn't just mean IQ," he thought. "It's how fast I learn. How I adapt. Solve problems…"
He bit his lower lip. A silent pride swelled inside him.
Then his eyes dropped to the last stat.
Silence.
Jeffrey stared at the number for a long moment. Then let out a slow, bitter breath.
"…Two? That low?"
He wasn't surprised. He looked average. Short. Lean. Not ugly, but far from charming. Messy hair. Guarded eyes. His presence was forgettable.
People didn't like him.
But seeing it quantified like this… stung.
"Am I that pathetic?" he laughed, a dry laugh full of self-loathing.
But then—he lifted his head.
"…It doesn't matter."
He read the line below:
Available Stat Points: 0
"So I can raise them… if I get points." He nodded. "That means I can become stronger. Smarter. Faster…"
Better than all of them.
Finally, his gaze landed on what interested him most.
ACTIVE SKILL: Chrono Lock (Lv. 1)
As soon as he focused on the skill, its description appeared:
Chrono Lock (Lv. 1)
🔹 Freezes time for 12 seconds
🔹 All actions performed during the freeze remain in effect when time resumes
🔸 Cooldown: 1 hour (real time)
🔸 Effect: All entities freeze except the host
Jeffrey read every word. Again. And again. He let it sink in, deeply.
Then… his mind started to work.
"Twelve seconds…" he muttered. "Doesn't sound long. But in real life… it's eternity."
He closed his eyes, imagining it: in twelve seconds, he could strike someone multiple times without response. Steal. Escape. Kill.
Even worse… do unspeakable things. Like harassing someone... Hehe
He almost laughed at the last thought, but shook it off.
Even one second of frozen time could mean the difference between life and death.
But the cooldown…
"One hour," he muttered. "Too long. Can't use this recklessly."
Still, if used at the right moment, it could change everything.
Especially this line—
🔹 All actions remain in effect when time resumes.
It wasn't just an illusion. Not a visual trick. Anything he did in that frozen time… would become real.
He could stab someone—
—and when time resumed, they'd collapse.
"This isn't just some flashy gimmick," he whispered. "This is… an assassin's power."
And now, it belonged to him.
Jeffrey smiled. Slowly.
Not a warm smile.
A crooked one, cracked with pain and fire.
The smile of a mutt growing its fangs.
"I'll use this… to destroy you, Liana."
Her face appeared in his mind.
White hair. Cold gaze. Gentle voice dripping with poison.
He would make her kneel.
"I'll make you feel every second of the humiliation you gave me."
Jeffrey Cain was no longer just a nerd with good grades.
No longer the school's punching bag.
Now…
He was the Time Aberrant.
And time itself… was on his side.