A hospital room with only one patient. The soft, rhythmic beeping of machines echoed steadily.
The patient, wrapped head to toe in bandages and surrounded by a network of machines, looked to be in critical condition even from a distance.
Standing at the doorway, I lifted both hands. The hands I’d seen so many times before—my hands, as Cha Eun-soo.
My body from the previous life was probably… I raised my head and looked toward the hospital bed. My legs trembled as I staggered forward, still mentally wrecked.
Beep. Beep. The closer I got to the patient, the louder the mechanical beeping grew. The face partially visible between the bandages became clearer with each step.
I stood near the bed and silently looked down at the face that wasn’t unfamiliar.
…It’s real.
It was me from my past life.
I hadn’t died after all.
“How…”
I reached out with a trembling hand.
Warm skin met my touch.
A hollow laugh escaped my lips. I’d been stabbed in the chest and even thrown from a rooftop, and yet—I was still alive.
The power of the system was truly awe-inspiring.
Fuck, I didn’t even have the energy left to be surprised anymore.
“……”
If I could start over.
Suddenly, as if echoing in my ears, I heard Jang Hee-gang’s murmured words again—the ones he’d said after stabbing me.
“This time, we’ll really be together.” What the hell did he mean by that?
Ding!
[The system that abducted your soul has rewound time in that world. Because the nuclear cores were on the verge of going berserk, it chose to create the being known as Cha Eun-soo much earlier in the past.]
[The core likely knew about this plan in advance, having been informed by the system before your abduction.]
…So that’s how it was.
I took in the information with a weary heart.
[After being born as Cha Eun-soo in that world, you did not awaken as a Guide until adulthood. Your soul, which originally belonged to my world, struggled to adapt to a different world and a different body. It remained in an unstable state.]
[Therefore, that system forcibly triggered your awakening.]
[That system intruded into my world and stole your soul, transplanting it into its own world without permission.]
[It implanted your soul—and even rewound time. Having already violated multiple taboos to defy fate, it overreached once more… As a result, the system’s authority weakened, and its world became riddled with bugs.]
[While tracking the system that abducted you, I used that gap to infiltrate its world. I then advised you to abandon the quest and showed you memories of your past, presenting them as dreams. The same two memories you were shown today.]
[Your memories of the game, and of the person who stabbed you. But why were those the only two memories you lost in the first place?]
“…!”
[It’s not that you forgot them. You were made to forget.]
[Because that system deleted them.]
Fuck.
A shiver ran down my spine.
…And beyond that, I immediately understood the motive behind the system deleting those memories.
Anyone, upon realizing that the world they’d been reborn into was actually a game, would feel a deep sense of dread and rejection. In extreme cases, their psyche could completely collapse. So the system made sure you’d never recall that this world originated from a game.
As for erasing Jang Hee-gang’s face…
That was because he was a capture target too.
How could anyone romance someone who had clearly killed them? Especially someone already stained by the suspicion of having murdered your father.
“……”
But didn’t I almost hyperventilate once when I thought of Jang Hee-gang?
Looking back, that brief episode might’ve been a glitch—my body remembering what my mind could not. Makes sense, considering the world was said to be full of bugs. And yet, it was far too soon to feel disgusted enough.
Ding—another alert.
[That’s not all. That system also manipulated your emotions.]
“What?”
[When you lost so many people during the hotel bombing. When you discovered that Jang Hee-gang was the one who murdered your father.]
A wave of black from the funeral hall flashed before my eyes.
Even when I uncovered the truth about Jang Hee-gang’s identity…
It didn’t hurt nearly as much as I’d expected.
[Originally, you experienced such an intense emotional shift that you lost all will to complete the quest. You were overwhelmed by disillusionment and doubt—not just toward Espers or the quest, but toward that entire world itself.]
[But the system cut those emotions away.]
[It deliberately removed any feelings that might’ve made you reject your circumstances. Though it wasn’t able to suppress them completely.]
Just like it erased my memories, it also tinkered with my mind—partially, but enough to matter.
“…Fucking insane.”
The moment I realized even the most sacred aspects of my humanity had been violated, it felt like the blood in my veins turned ice cold.
My stomach churned, bile rising to my throat.
Unconsciously, I covered my mouth with my hand.
[Do you understand now?]
[The world where you truly belong—is here.]
[Returning to this body, to this world, is the natural order… and the only way to get revenge on the system that deceived and used you.]
The system spoke as if delivering a final verdict.
“……”
I could feel it myself—my eyes were trembling. And yet, strangely, I couldn’t bring myself to speak right away.
Even after realizing that everything—from my death to my so-called new beginning—had all stemmed from the system’s lies.
Even after learning that both my memories and emotions had been manipulated.
If that world had really just been a game… then maybe I would’ve chosen differently without a second thought. If the people living there were nothing more than artificial NPCs.
…But the world where I was born and lived as Cha Eun-soo was undeniably real. And the result of giving up the quest would be everyone’s death.
Even the family I had as Cha Eun-soo—something this original body, Lee Eun-soo, never got to have—would be lost.
A mother who, though awkward in expressing herself, cared for me more than anyone.
A sister who showered me with overflowing affection, almost as if to make up for what our mother couldn’t give.
A brother who always put me first—who loved me with everything he had.
All of them.
Ding!
[Are you really going to forgive what that system did to you?]
[You must not make the wrong choice.]
The system threw up another window, reading my thoughts as if they were written out.
…Fucking hell.
Rage surged inside me, bubbling up at the pressure to make a choice.
Goddammit. Why the hell am I even in this situation?
This system, too—it couldn’t even properly manage its own damn world. It didn’t even realize my soul had been abducted until it was too late.
Of course, the clearly worse one is the bastard system that kidnapped me in the first place.
“I…”
I let out a low, quiet voice.
The anger made my decision clear.
“I’ll choose what matters more to me. And I don’t believe that’s the wrong choice.”
Even if I chose to continue living as Cha Eun-soo and warned that system never to mess with my mind again, there’s no guarantee it would listen. It might pull something behind my back all over again.
But even knowing the risks—even with all the unease…
“…My decision hasn’t changed.”
Just because I chose not to return didn’t mean the original world would be destroyed. But the second world—the one I was reborn into—would collapse if I went back to this one.
No matter how fucked up I felt, how angry or even scared I was, I couldn’t justify choosing my own emotions over that reality. Not when it would mean sacrificing everyone there.
With my fists clenched tight, I stared at myself lying in the hospital bed.
A moment of silence passed.
[How astonishing,] the system remarked curtly.
[Being good at deception doesn’t mean one can’t be devoted, I suppose. The human psyche really is fascinatingly complex.]
“……”
[And quite unfortunate.]
[All I needed was for you to justify abandoning the quest.]
[Forcibly retrieving you brings certain risks for us as well… but it seems there’s no other way.]
“…!”
What…?
I stared wide-eyed at the system window.
[To think you would dare reject your origin.]
A distorted voice echoed, layered with tones both male and female, young and old. It was grotesque.
My breath caught. An invisible weight pressed down on me, starting from my head and crushing my entire body. My knees buckled beneath me.
My head bowed involuntarily, trembling so violently I couldn’t control it.
[You were ignorant of everything, and out of pity, I revealed the full truth… and this is how you repay me.]
“Ugh, ah…”
The floor of the hospital room filled my vision. I dug my nails into the cold, smooth surface as I braced myself, but the pressure only continued to mount—
[You will no longer remember your life as Cha Eun-soo.]
The voice struck like a curse, terrifying in its certainty.
[You will forget every single part of that second life, and return to the place you once left behind…]
[You will live on as a part of my world, just as you were meant to.]
No. Fuck this.
I grit my teeth.
If it were a world held together by a nuclear core, maybe I’d understand.
But my original world wasn’t like that… and I wasn’t some irreplaceable core. So why the hell was this thing so obsessed with me?
“I’ve heard there are systems out there that obsess over every blade of grass they consider part of their world.”
That’s what the other system said to me recently…
If that’s really the only reason—then as a mere human, I have no way to make sense of it.
“Argh!”
As if the pressure hadn’t already been overwhelming, it intensified further, completely dominating me. My eyeballs felt like they were going to burst. I couldn’t breathe, heat flooded my body, and cold sweat poured from me in sheets.
It was excruciating.
This power—so primal, so overwhelming—it stirred a fear that felt instinctual, ancient.
For a fleeting moment, the thought crossed my mind: This might be the power of a god.
That such a physiological reaction could even occur while I was in a soul state… it was hard to imagine any other explanation.
[Don’t worry. As you can see from the body in front of you, not much time has passed since the core took you.]
[Because I needed to retrieve you and correct this mistake… even though manipulating time is a taboo, I had no choice but to break it.]
The system delivered the words like a decree.
[You’ll be able to adapt just fine, as if nothing ever happened.]
Ah.
No. Fuck, no.
Even as my awareness flickered and began to slip away, I swore in utter despair—but I couldn’t even tell if the words left my mouth.
The floor rose up to meet me, and then…
Everything stopped.
