I died at twenty-eight.
At least… I should have.
Yet in a dimly lit dormitory room, a young boy lay motionless on a narrow bed, his breathing faint and unstable.
For a few seconds, it stopped completely—so still that it seemed life had already left him.
Then suddenly- He inhaled sharply.
Just like waking from a nightmare, he hurriedly sits up, sweat soaking his body within seconds.
His chest rises and falls rapidly as if he had just escaped death itself.
Rex sat on the bed, listless, his mind in chaos as he surveyed his surroundings.
“…Where am I?” His voice was hoarse.
Memories of his last moments flashed through his mind- an accident, pain, darkness swallowing everything.
He should have died.
Then why- “Did I get reincarnated… or transmigrated?” Even as he spoke, his head suddenly throbbed.
A surge of memories flooded in- memories that did not belong to the Rex who had just died, yet felt completely his own.
He clutched his head tightly as the buzzing intensified.
His veins bulged.
Time seemed to stretch endlessly, but when it subsided, only a few minutes had passed.
His breathing gradually steadied.
“…So that’s how it is.” Rex looked around once more, his gaze slowly turning calm.
“This world… is the same as before.” Same life.
Same people.
Even the same experiences.
The only difference- He looked at his hands.
Smaller.
Younger.
“…I’m back.” A faint, helpless smile appeared on his face.
“I can be considered to have both reincarnated and transmigrated at the same time.” Silence filled the room.
Then his eyes drifted toward the desk beside his bed.
A family photo.
He reached out and picked it up.
For a moment, he simply stared at the picture.
His father, who had once been a gold merchant in another state… his mother, who silently endured everything… and himself, unaware of what was to come.
His eyes reddened.
Tears flowed silently before he wiped them away with his hands.
“…I couldn’t do anything.” His voice was low, almost breaking.
In his previous life, everything had fallen apart.
Trust broken and betrayed.
What belonged to them had been taken.
And in the end… he lost everything, even his life at the age of twenty-eight.
His grip on the photo tightened slightly.
His hand sliding over the figures in the photo.
“But this time…” His eyes hardened with determination.
“It won’t happen again.” He placed the photo back on the table carefully.
Looking at the date, his expression changed slightly.
“…Today.” This was the day.
The day when his family separated from his uncle’s family.
The day when everything began to go wrong.
At that time, he had been with them.
But now- “I’m in the dormitory…” Rex frowned slightly.
Things were the same, yet different.
He lowered his gaze, thoughts rapidly forming and collapsing in his mind.
“If everything follows the same path… then the hardships will begin soon.” His mother… She had suffered the most.
A trace of anger flashed in his eyes.
“If I want to change everything… I need to act from the very beginning.” But soon, that determination wavered.
“…How?” He let out a slow breath.
“I’m just a child right now.
Even if I know the future, I can’t prove anything.” No one would believe him.
No one would listen.
His hands clenched unconsciously.
“And the biggest problem…” His eyes darkened.
“…the land documents.” The root of everything.
The betrayal that started it all.
A sense of helplessness rose within him, mixed with anger he could not release.
“Damn it…” His nails dug into his palm.
The more he thought, the more suffocating it became.
Just as his emotions reached a breaking point- A voice rang in his head.
Cold and mechanical.
“DING.” Rex froze.
He looked around instinctively, but there was nothing.
Silence.
Then the voice came again, clearer this time.
“DING, DETECTED HOST IS IN EXTREME EMOTIONAL OUTBURST.” His pupils shrank.
“System activation condition met.” His heartbeat quickened.
“…System?” [CONGRATULATIONS.
POCKET WORLD CREATOR SYSTEM ACTIVATED.] The room fell silent once more.
Rex didn’t answer immediately.
Instead- A faint smile slowly formed on his face.