The last thing I remembered was the screech of tires, the blinding headlights, and then—nothing.
Darkness swallowed me whole, and for a moment, I wondered if this was what death felt like. An endless void, silent and suffocating. But then, a voice cut through the black.
**[System Initializing…]**
My vision exploded into lines of glowing text, symbols flickering like stars in a digital sky.
**[Welcome, User. Loading Character Data…]**
What the hell? Was this some kind of afterlife simulation? A joke?
Before I could process it, the world reassembled around me—not as flesh and blood, but as something else. Colors sharpened into existence, forming cobblestone streets, towering castles, and a sky painted in hues I'd never seen before. A fantasy world.
No—not just any fantasy world.
I knew this place.
**Eldros Online.**
The VRMMORPG I'd spent hundreds of hours playing before… before my accident.
**[Character Creation Complete. Designation: NPC – Merchant Class.]**
NPC? My stomach dropped. I wasn't a player. I wasn't even human anymore.
A reflection shimmered into view in a nearby shop window—a face that wasn't mine. Younger, sharper, with piercing amber eyes and silver hair tied back in a loose braid. My new body. My new *life*.
A notification blinked in the corner of my vision.
**[Primary Objective: Fulfill your role as the Blackmarket Informant of Valtheim. Failure to comply may result in system correction.]**
System correction? That didn't sound good.
A group of players—*actual players*—strolled past, their names floating above their heads in bold blue text. They laughed, completely unaware that the merchant NPC watching them from the shadows was once just like them.
I clenched my fists. If this was my second chance, I wouldn't waste it.
Even as an NPC… I'd play this game my way.