"Did I piss off a god or something?" Zen Lee thought, his gaze fixed on the steam rising from his coffee. The cafeteria buzzed with the low hum of conversation and clinking cutlery, but Zen felt a world away, wrapped in his own bubble of perpetual bad luck.
His phone buzzed, a sharp, insistent vibration in his pocket. He pulled it out, a sigh escaping him as his mother's name lit up the screen. He answered with a practiced tap.
"Zen, when are you getting home?" she asked, her voice a familiar mix of warmth and worry.
"In an hour, Mom."
"Be sure to head to the antique shop I told you about. My friend swears it works."
"Okay, what kind should I buy?"
"She said to find the one that speaks to you. The one that attracts you the most."
"Okay, then bye. I'll be back by seven."
"Okay, dear."
I'll try something else if it doesn't work, he thought, even a strange crystal. He slid the phone back into his pocket. After finishing his coffee, Zen grabbed his laptop bag from the table and headed for the elevator. The doors chimed open, and he stepped inside, the cool air a welcome relief. He pressed the ground floor button, the metal cool beneath his finger.
The doors opened again. Zen stepped out and walked toward the building's exit, where his taxi was waiting. He slipped into the back seat. "Zen Lee?" the driver, asked.
"Yeah, Jinwoo," Zen replied.
Jinwoo nodded and pulled into the flow of traffic. Zen took out his phone and lost himself in his favorite web novel. Lost in the story, he almost forgot his mission until he looked up. "Jinwoo," he said, "could you drop me off at that antique shop?"
"Sure thing," Jinwoo nodded.
A short time later, Zen stood in the hushed antique shop, the air thick with the scent of old wood and dust. His eyes scanned the counter, passing over dozens of crystals. Then, they landed on a black crystal, distinct from the others. He felt an undeniable pull toward it. He leaned in, noticing faint, symbols inside it, barely visible in the dim light.
"That looks cool," he murmured to himself. He pointed. "I'll take that one."
"Ten bucks," the shopkeeper replied.
Zen pulled a ten-dollar bill from his wallet and handed it over. "Ten bucks for a crystal. Seriously?" he thought, but the pull he felt earlier silenced his doubt.
The shopkeeper placed the crystal in a small plastic bag and handed it to him. Zen took the bag and walked out, heading toward his apartment. When he reached his door, he took the key from his left pocket, inserted it into the lock, and with a soft click, twisted the handle and stepped inside.
"I'm home!" he called out.
"Welcome back," his mom replied from the kitchen.
Zen walked toward his room, hearing her call out, "I made some rice and curry!"
"I already ate, Mom!" he replied as he entered his room.
"Okay, I'll put some in the fridge if you get hungry."
"Okay," he said, and walked over to his gaming setup. He sat down and reached for the crystal. As his fingers closed around the plastic bag, he felt a sharp prick. "Ah!" he yelped, dropping the bag. He accidentally cut himself on the crystal's sharp edge.
After patching up the small cut with a bandage, he placed the crystal on his table. Exhausted from his day, Zen lay down in bed, and despite the strange turn of events, he fell asleep almost instantly.
***
Aahh!
It hurts! The pain is killing me!
My insides hurt so much!. In a dreamlike state, Zen Lee felt a burning pain in his abdomen, as if someone had hit his insides with a burning spike again and again. No, it was more like a sharp object that was almost melting had pierced his abdomen, leaving bits of melted pieces in the process!
Aahh... In his stupor, Zen Lee tried to get up, touch his abdomen, and sit up, but he couldn't move. His limbs refused to move, leaving him completely immobilized and helpless.
It looks like my body is still not awake, still dreaming, leaving me in sleep paralysis. Maybe in a short while I will be able to move again... Zen Lee, used to such disorienting experiences, struggled to focus and break free from the shackles of darkness and confusion.
However, while half-awake, he tried to focus his will, which felt as insubstantial as a ripple in a river—there one moment and gone the next. His thoughts wouldn't allow him to control or examine them.
No matter how hard he tried, his focus kept slipping away as random notions and images bubbled up unbidden.
Why would I suddenly get such a burning pain in the stomach in the middle of the night?
And it's so painful!
Could it be kidney failure?
Fuck, am I going to die a virgin?
I need to wake up! Now!
Huh? It doesn't hurt as much as before, but it still feels like needles slowly stabbing my abdomen...
Looks like I can't go back to sleep. How am I supposed to work tomorrow?
Why am I even thinking about work? With stomach pain like this, I should take the day off! No need to worry about the manager's nagging!
"Hey, putting it that way, it doesn't seem too bad. Hehe, I can end up getting some spare time for myself, try to get my rank up on League."
The burning pain served to progressively fortify Zen Lee's immaterial strength.
Finally, he straightened his back and opened his eyes, fully breaking free from his reverie.
His vision first blurred, then faint white tinged it. He found himself in the middle of a narrow, dark alleyway. He was sitting up in a coffin-sized pit, and the dirt at the bottom of the pit was stained with blood. He could smell the metallic odor coming from the bloodstains.
"Where am I? How did I get here?"
"And why am I half naked!"
Zen Lee was stunned. Everything he saw was so unfamiliar and looked nothing like his room!
In his shock and confusion, he noticed the light shining from above covered the pit and the dark alleyway in a layer of whitish hue.
Subconsciously, he lifted his head, and his gaze slowly moved towards the source of the light.
In midair, at the entrance to the alleyway, a white moon with a black circular dot in the middle hung high, shining silently.
"Wh-" Zen Lee felt inexplicably terrified and stood up abruptly.
But before he could straighten his legs, his abdomen throbbed with pain, causing him to lose strength and fall back heavily into the coffin-sized pit.
"Thud!"
The pain did little. Zen Lee propped himself up with his hands on the ground above the coffin-sized pit, stood up again, and turned around in a panic, examining his surroundings.
It was a narrow alleyway, with crumbling brick walls, rusted metal pipes, and old graffiti scrawled on the brick walls. Puddles of rainwater reflected the moonlight, and heaps of excavated soil sat next to rusted metal pipes and splintered plywood. The pit was a muddy, oblong grave; its stench was both earthy and metallic, a grim smell that clung to the air and the back of one's throat.
With a quick glance, Zen Lee caught a glimpse of himself in a puddle of rainwater—the current him: raven-black hair, black eyes with dark circles, linen pants, a thin build, and above-average features, but with a rather deep outline...
"What!" Zen Lee gasped, his mind flooded with helpless and confused thoughts.
The white moon with a black dot, different from Earth's moon, and this new body all indicated one thing!
"C-could I have transmigrated?" Zen Lee's mouth slowly opened.
He had grown up reading web novels and often fantasized about such scenarios, but despite everything, acceptance proved challenging when it became reality.
Almost a minute later, Zen Lee murmured to himself, trying to find some humor in his situation, "This is probably what it means to love a fantasy??"
If it weren't for the throbbing pain in his abdomen keeping his thoughts sharp, he would have definitely thought he was still dreaming.
Zen Lee struggled to regain composure, repeating "Calm down" in his head while taking deep, measured breaths. He tried hard to stop panicking.
At that moment, as his mind and body calmed down, memories began flooding him, slowly appearing in his mind!
Raven Scott, a citizen of the Central Continent's Saru Country, Ghrmen County, City of Amar. He is an orphan, an 18-year-old high school dropout...
His father worked in an underground factory that produced air filtration systems. He passed away from everyday exposure to air pollution; the compensation money allowed Raven to attend a private school.
His mother was a teacher at the local school of science and commerce. She passed away when Raven turned fifteen. He also had a younger sister who was six at that time, and they were placed in an adoption center where a new family adopted her.
Unfortunately, no family adopted him. He was separated from his younger sister. He started living in an abandoned house on the outskirts, doing odd jobs for the outskirts gang, "Chamber."
As a high school dropout, he only knew the Casmic language. It was a common language used in the city.
"Casmic language?" Zen Lee's mind stirred. He reached out to rub his throbbing abdomen and looked at the graffiti on the brick wall.
He took a step out of the pit, got closer to the graffiti on the cracked brick wall. The graffiti went from strange to alien, then from alien to familiar, until it became readable.
It was a text written in Casmic language!
The brightly colored graffiti said: "Chamber's territory."
Looking at the familiar name, he thought deeply about the odd jobs Raven had received from the Chamber gang, as he contemplated how he had ended up in a coffin-sized pit.
While deep in thought, an unexpected crimson marks—a footprint, just visible to the side drew his gaze. Its color was deeper than the moonlight.
It was bloody footprints!
A bloody footprint! Zen Lee subconsciously crouched down, lifted his right foot, and looking down, he saw his bare foot was covered in blood.
At the same time, the throbbing pain in his abdomen continued. Although it had weakened a little, it was still persistent.
"Did I commit seppuku?" Zen Lee wondered as he turned around and walked towards a puddle of rainwater.
A few steps later, a frail-looking young man with pale skin and dark circles under his eyes came into view. The person had a lean build.
Is that me? Raven Scott?
Zen Lee paused for a moment; because of the dim hue of the moonlight, he couldn't see clearly, so he moved forward until he was just a step away from the puddle.
Using the moonlight, he turned his abdomen towards the puddle.
The somewhat simple reflection in the puddle showed a grotesque wound on his abdomen, with burn marks around it. The area was marred with bloodstains , and inside, flesh of a deep red hue pulsed.