Caren stood silently.
His eyelids trembled as he stared at the door with wide eyes.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?”
Why?
Why didn’t he know him?
Had his existence been erased from this world?
If that was true…
a new start?
A chance to start over?
But first, he couldn’t stay there, or his dad would call the police.
Caren turned around.
He wanted to walk, but…
He took a step back, his back hitting the door.
Someone stood in front of him, wearing a black coat.
An earthen-colored mask covered his face, with antenna-like protrusions jutting from the top.
The mask had the teeth of a boar, and its eyes were empty.
Black.
Lifeless.
Caren narrowed his eyes and let out an impatient breath.
“What are you staring at?”
The masked figure tilted its head.
Then, out of nowhere, blue sparks appeared around its left hand.
When the sparks disappeared, an odachi appeared in its hand.
Caren froze.
For a moment, he didn’t move.
Then he jumped back and pounded on the door again and again.
“OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE!
OPEN THE DOOR!”
His voice was filled with fear—not fear of death.
After all, he had wanted to kill himself before.
It was just…
he couldn’t help being afraid.
His mind was screaming at him to run.
Caren looked back.
The creature was slowly approaching him, almost as if it had no reason to hurry.
Caren pounded on the door harder, almost as if he wanted to break it down.
The creature was only five centimeters away from him.
“Hhhh!”
Caren suddenly ran to the left, but he crashed into something.
The creature was standing right in front of him.
Caren tried to push it away, but his hands couldn’t move it.
It felt as if he were trying to push through fog.
He tried to stand up, but his body suddenly went numb.
Caren struggled to breathe, his eyes wide with terror.
He didn’t want to die like this.
Why was this happening to him?
What had he done wrong?
He was kind and had never bothered anyone.
“Hhhhh!”
Caren’s eyes began to close.
It felt like falling asleep.
His thoughts slowly disappeared.
His body grew heavy, and…
“I…”
“Hmmm…”
He opened his eyes, lying on something hard.
“Uhhh…
my head…”
Caren placed his hands on the floor.
His vision was blurry, but he could barely make out that it was made of wood.
He looked around.
Nobody was there.
He was completely alone.
That was all he could tell because he couldn’t hear a single sound.
His throat was dry and a little sore.
He coughed heavily and placed a hand against his throat.
“Shit…”
Caren shook his head and tried to stand up.
But he fell to his knees again.
The world was spinning around him.
He placed a hand against the wall to keep himself from falling.
“Shit…
what…
is this?”
He looked around again.
He was in a small room he had never seen before.
There was nothing except a mirror and wooden walls.
“That…
that bastard creature…”
Caren barely managed to stand and slowly walked toward the mirror.
Reaching it was harder than he had expected.
His body felt heavy, and he could barely see clearly.
He waited for a moment, allowing his vision to clear.
His eyes widened.
He gasped in surprise.
Caren stepped back.
“No.
No, no, no, no.”
What was happening?
How the hell was that possible?
In the mirror’s reflection stood a boy, almost as tall as Caren, with green eyes and brown hair.
He looked around sixteen or seventeen.
But he wasn’t Caren.
How had he not noticed?
This body almost felt like his own.
Caren placed his hands on his face.
“What the fuck is happening?
Why am I here?”
He could smell dirt, as if he were somewhere surrounded by nature.
Caren touched the mirror.
Maybe he was dreaming.
Dreaming?
He had to make sure.
Caren bit his hand, his face twisting in pain.
He pulled his teeth away and looked at the bite mark.
“I…
Am I awake?
But how?
I killed myself!
Then I…”
Yeah, that fucking creature that had attacked Caren—it had done this to him.
It had trapped Caren there.
It must have used some kind of magic to swap his body with someone else’s.
Yeah, that had to be it.
So it was waiting outside for him.
Caren walked toward the door and opened it.
As he did, he felt something.
A word started to take shape in his mind.
That word pushed every other thought out of Caren’s mind, leaving only itself behind.
“Texts?”
It was as if his mind was unconsciously being drawn toward that word.
At the same time, his body seemed to urge him to walk out the door and reach somewhere—not the body he was inhabiting.
His mind automatically focused on that word.
Then Caren suddenly jumped back.
Some text appeared in the air, golden and glowing, without any background.
“Huh?
I just…
I’m seeing things?!”
Caren laughed.
So he had finally gone crazy!
Text in the air?
That was creative…
at least for a crazy guy.
“If I’m crazy, then I can just go out and chill.
Maybe that’s what I need.”
But somewhere in the back of his mind, Caren could feel that the text was real.
As if he had known it all along.
As if he could trust it.
Caren hesitated for a second, then stepped toward the text to touch it, but his hand passed right through.
“Huh?”
How?
Was he just imagining something that wasn’t real?
Was he really starting to go crazy?
“I’m okay.
I’ll be okay.”
Caren stepped back, giving himself enough distance to read the text.
Name: Caren
Grade: ??
Chosen Name: ??
Chosen Abilities: ??
Level: ??
Spoils: ??
Temporary Power: Death Cheater Remaining Attempts: 5
Caren frowned slightly.
They all had question marks next to them, except for one.
“What?
I…
I have a superpower?
And it’s…
Death Cheater?”
Something in his mind told him the text was real.
But Caren couldn’t believe it.
He couldn’t accept it.
His logical mind couldn’t accept it.
“Death Cheater?
It can’t be real.”
Caren placed a hand on his chest and laughed.
A dry laugh.
“I wanted to die.
But now?
I can’t even…
do that, can I?”
Caren looked at the mirror and punched it, but it didn’t break.
He looked at his reflection again.
No…
That wasn’t his reflection.
He wanted to die, but now he knew he couldn’t.
Not until he died five more times.
But what if he…
“Just five times?
Maybe…
I can try five more times.
After that…
I’ll stop trying.”
Caren placed a hand under his chin and looked around.
“But first, I have to get out of here.”
Caren walked toward the open door and left the room.
He stood silently.
Trees were everywhere.
Grape vines hung from the trees.
Tall trees reached toward the sky.
Birds were singing, and flowers were blooming.
The sound of the flowing river gave the place an enchanting atmosphere.
He was…
in a jungle.
“Oh, fuck!”
As far as he knew, there was no jungle anywhere near the city he lived in.
He had been taken from home and was now somewhere far away.
He clenched his teeth.
“Dying in a jungle?
How beautiful!”
He sat down, picked up a small rock from the ground, and threw it at a tree.
“Who the hell are you?
Let me out of here, you sick bastard.
It’s not funny.
It’s not funny at all.”
Caren stomped his foot on the ground.
“I’ll escape on my own.
After that, I’ll…
I don’t know.
I really don’t know.”
Caren bit his lower lip.
It was fine, right?
Was it really fine?
“No, no.
It’s not fine.”
He started walking slowly.
He didn’t want to make any noise, but it wasn’t easy.
Sometimes, when he stepped in the mud, it made a squelching sound that almost scared him to death.
He walked for a while before seeing something strange.
Sand was everywhere.
A warm breeze blew through the air.
Hills of various heights were scattered across the land.
A little farther ahead was a desert.
Caren knelt on the ground.
His chest tightened.
He lowered his head and screamed.
“Fuck you!
FUCK YOU!
Fuck this world!
Where am I?
Why me?
Why me?”
Caren suddenly stiffened.
He felt something breathing against his back.
He froze, his fists slowly loosening at his sides.
Caren slowly turned his head.
He didn’t want to look back.
His eyes widened when he saw it.
A tall creature, almost three meters high, stood before him.
Its body looked as if it were made of blood.
It had no eyes, but Caren felt as though it were staring directly at him.
Its mouth was wide, filled with yellow teeth, and its hands were so sharp they looked like knives.
The creature took a step forward.
Caren jumped and tried to run, but the creature grabbed his arm.
Caren fell to the ground, hitting his head.
The creature tightened its grip on his arm and tore it off.
Caren opened his mouth, wanting to scream from the pain, but…
nothing came out.
He just stared at the place where his arm had been.
“First…
attempt?
I…”
His face twisted in pain.
“I l…
lost my f…
first attempt like this?
I wasted it like this?
I…
could j…
just be…
qu…
quiet…
and nothing…”
Blood rushed out, painting the ground red.
Caren placed his hand on the ground.
If he was going to die, then…
Caren suddenly jumped toward the creature and tried to punch it with his only hand.
But the creature simply grabbed his head and squeezed.
Caren’s eyes widened.
Blood splattered everywhere, and he fell to the ground, headless.