I opened my eyes.
And I realized I didn't have a physical body.
Or rather, this body wasn't one I recognized.
I looked down. Two hands lay spread out in front of my face—transparent, like mist about to vanish. They were shaped like the armor of medieval knights.
"Huh."
I almost laughed.
It's a total cliché, but I've been reincarnated into a non-human creature.
And this isn't the first time I've experienced it.
Back when I first started going through this kind of thing, I'd panic, scream, and ask myself why, like some fool. After 18 years as a living doll, why do I have to keep facing this suffering? But now? I've started to accept it.
'How long has it been?'
The question pops up, but the answer is always fuzzy. Ten years? A hundred years? Time feels different when you die and come back to life as hundreds of different beings.
I try to remember the first time—when it all began. That truck. That pain. And the notification panel that appeared before my eyes, back when I still had real eyes…
***
Just as the world went dark from the truck's impact, the notification panel appeared. System, Infinite Reincarnation—all that information flooded my consciousness.
At first, I opened my eyes, hoping to become a wealthy noble. To live a life of luxury in a palace full of sexy maids. But what I saw instead was water, coral, and fins.
It took me a while to realize I was swimming.
But I wasn't a fish; I was a male seahorse with a potbelly, and inside my own belly, I could feel something moving around.
My body trembled with fear when I realized it was hundreds of eggs ready to hatch.
I wanted to scream. But my mouth could only open and close like a stupid fish.
Three weeks later, I died during childbirth.
The pain? Like being squeezed from the inside. Like hundreds of needles piercing each organ one by one. I remember it clearly because that was my first reincarnation.
[Host's death detected.]
[Because the host endured the suffering of fertilizing hundreds of eggs, you have gained the Inventory skill.]
[You have gained additional skills: Incubate, Underwater Breathing.]
After the seahorse, I learned that hope is poison.
With every reincarnation, I always hoped to become human.
But instead, I turned into all sorts of strange creatures.
Once I was a rabbit. I hopped across a field of green grass until the shadow of an eagle covered the sky. Then—claw! End.
Once I was a tree. A wild boar's charge cracked my trunk and toppled me. The pain felt like being hit by a truck over and over.
Once I was a sewer rat. The dark, wet, and foul-smelling tunnels made me flee toward the light. But when I finally emerged, I was crushed under a rotten shoe sole.
But the strangest was probably when I became a cockroach.
Poison jar. I lived inside it with other insects until eventually only I remained. The irony is, once I'd escaped the poison jar, I died because I flipped over.
My legs flailed in the air. My body rolled around trying to flip back. But I couldn't.
[You have gained the skill: Immunity.]
If I'm lucky enough, I'll get a skill. But unfortunately, I can't use it.
[Restrictions apply!]
***
I shook my head—or at least what I thought was a shake—and those unpleasant memories faded away.
I looked around.
This room is huge. Too huge. A throne made of bones lies in the center, surrounded by a field of skulls forming a strange pattern. The sky outside—if you could even call it a sky—was blood-red from end to end.
And on that throne... sat my transparent self.
'A supernatural creature, huh!'
Not the worst, actually. After once being a rock that could only sit motionless on a mountain for 47 years, before finally eroding and disappearing, this felt like a vacation.
Suddenly, something moved beside me.
Another transparent creature approached.
Its body was denser, more tangible than mine. Its eyes were dull, as if the light within them had nearly gone out. The corners of its mouth turned downward—not in a frown, but more like it had forgotten how to smile.
It shook my body, checking and making sure I was okay.
"@#@%@#@"
Its voice was strange. Like the whisper of wind caught in a breeze. I didn't understand a single word.
But I understood its expression.
Its expression… was like Aria's when I was almost hit by a truck.
Like someone about to lose something.
Tears trickled down her face, wetting my transparent body. Each drop felt warm, strangely, amidst my cold form.
After thousands of years alone… someone was shaking my body like this. Someone with weary eyes was staring at me. Someone was crying in front of me.
I want to say, "Calm down. I'm okay."
But this mouth can't make a sound.
So I just stay silent. Letting them shake my body.
CRAAAASH!
As a dramatic moment unfolded, the crimson sky outside split open.
Something descended from above like a shooting star, but faster and more ferocious. A blinding golden light engulfed everything.
As I squinted, a human figure walked into the hall.
A flowing white robe danced in the nonexistent wind. Long, golden hair cascaded neatly. His face showed no expression—lips straight, eyes narrowed, staring at me as if I were an insect that had accidentally caught his attention.
In his hand, a spear of light continued to glow.
He looked at me. The creature beside me. The throne. Then back at me.
"Still alive?" The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. "Interesting."
His voice echoed, heavy and full of authority.
I stared at him.
And suddenly—
'I understand his words?!'
The language this human was using felt familiar.
'Ah!'
It was the made-up language from the game—
"No problem. If one attack isn't enough, I'll keep attacking until you vanish, you ugly, disgusting ghost!"
He raised his hand. A new spear appeared in his other hand. Then he shouted a skill name, "Solaria's Spear Beam!"
Both spears shot forward.
The creature beside me—the one who had been worried about me—tried to block them. But the spears pierced its body like mist, sending it flying and vanishing into thin air.
With nothing in the way, the other spear successfully pierced my chest.
Pain.
Not ordinary pain. This was pain that burned my very soul. It felt as though my existence was being erased bit by bit.
Purple blood trickled from my mouth.
The man stepped closer. His face was smug, like a cat toying with a mouse.
I stared at that face. Blonde hair. Sharp blue eyes. A thin scar on his left eyebrow.
"Luz Fotis?!"
The man furrows his brow. "How could a lowly creature like you know my name?"
I don't answer. I just stare at him.
Then I look around. A red sky. A throne of skulls. Scattered transparent creatures.
And I realize.
I recognize that face.
Not from a past life. Not from memories as a human. But from a 6-inch phone screen, from that damn game I played under the thugs' gunpoint.
The Bad Ending is the Only Route.
Luz Fotis. Humanity's first hero. The man who slaughtered supernatural creatures in the opening scene.
For thousands of years, I'd suspected it. But when he was right in front of me, I was certain.
"Time to die!"
He pulled the spear out of my body.
The pain was different. If the first time felt like being erased drop by drop, this time felt like being erased with a giant eraser. Gone in a single swipe.
But amidst that pain, there was something more terrifying than death: understanding.
I wasn't just dying. I was dying at the hands of a character I could once only watch. Dying as a monster in a story, I could never give a happy ending.
The world began to fade.
[You are dead.]
[You have obtained the skill: Sovereign's Decree.]
[Additional skills: Ghost Speech, Ghost Form, Ghost Aura, Ghost Touch, Ghost Possession.]
I thought I'd still be trapped in the cycle of becoming a strange creature. But a notification I'd never seen before appeared.
[Game timeline detected as having started.]
[Infinite Reincarnation - Activated.]
[Game start.]