Kim Yoo-Sung had died the way he lived. Pathetically.
Face down in a puddle of warm soda, hands still crammed into his pants, bloodshot eyes rolled all the to the back of his head—and the cherry on the top, tentacle orgy flickering with all its glory on his worn, grimy moniter.
He thought that it was safe to say that that wasn't the best way to go.
Yeah...
You know the best part?
The cause of death? Choked on a goddamn meatball.
But honestly, it was not like he was living some glorious life to begin with.
Kim Yoo-Sung was surviving, that too, barely.
Abusive parents. An unstable home. Constant bullying—both in and out of school—and poverty so deep he could've seen hells floor. Even his office life, which was supposed to be fairly uneventful was absolute hell.
It all felt like some sick joke.
He could almost imagine some kind of... Cosmic Deity chuckling as it saw poor Kim Soo-Yung waddle through his miserable life.
And so when death finally arrived for him, and the lights went out, he thought i had finally earned some kind of rest. A peaceful slumber for this troubled—naive soul that had the luck to be born.
Heaven being out of the quesiton—he almost hoped even for limbo.
Maybe some oblivion.
Yeah...
I think you know where this is going.
So Fate said "Fuck No." in all its grand glory.
Because right now, he wasn't in some after life resort sipping on ghostly mojitos. No.
He was very much alive... just slightly displaced.
So here he was, lying buttass naked in some kind of bizzare forest with nothing but the swaying branches giving the bewildered man some shade.
The moist bark was digging into his spine. There's dirt in places dirt has no business being. His nuts are literally shriveling from the cold morning breeze. And he had unless spontaneously grew an extra limb, he was sure that there was something crawling on me.
For a moment—utterly disoriented, he think he's still of fever dream. Maybe he had passed out and this is just his brain cooking in the last five seconds of oxygen.
But then he smells it.
Fresh air.
A kind of clean, earthy scent that never existed in the dirty streets of seoul. The light filtering through the leaves above weren't fluorescent like a bulb—it was sunlight, golden and harsh. Slightly warm on his skin.
Which meant that he was either alive... or some sicko had left him in the middle of a fantasy themed park with a fog machine and a twisted sense of humour.
Then it happens.
A sudden ding—not in his ears, but inside his skull. Like a notification straight to his being.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
Welcome, Host!
You have been chosen as the vessel of conquest.
He stared at the golden display infront of me, mouth slightly agape, wondering if it was kind of hologram... or even a hallucination.
Maybe there was something in the air...
But no, it was real. As real as the cold hitting my exposed-
OKAY, ENOUGH.
[CONGRATULATIONS HOST]
System installation is complete.
Your objective is: [Dominate, Ascend]
Every subject reshapes fate.
Failure results in death.
"Okay, so, what the fu-"
Another screens pop, interrupting him. And this one's somehow even more cryptic.
[BASIC SKILL UNLOCKED: INSIGHT (LVL1)]
iNSIGHT (LVL1): Allows basic appraisal of potential subjects.
Range: 10 Meters
Cooldown: None
"Uh huh, not creepy at all..."
[YOUR STARTING LOCATION IS: THE FOREST OF FALLEN LIGHT]
[Good Luck, Host]
The screen vanished with an uneventful shimmer.
He slowly sat up with a groan, dirt sticking to his ass, and look around. There were trees, as far he could see. There was also the small rustle of wind. And somewhere in the distance, he heard water running. Birds chirped overhead, almost like they were mocking him.
No people.
No instructions apart from "Grow Conquer"
....
Fantastic!
Here he was—just died chocking on a meatball while mid-jerk—and now he was supposed to turn into some interdimensional alpha stud...
So yeah...
He looked down on myself, inspecting his new body. Atleast the system was generous. He had been ugraded—not by much—but definitely no longer average.
Still, he needed clothes, some food, and maybe even a town if e was lucky.
And most importantly, a damned system that didn't treat him like some kind of bizzare hentai plotline!