My name is Verc.
I am twenty-eight years old, single, and just another normal office worker you could find anywhere if you looked hard enough. Nothing special, nothing noteworthy. Just one face among many, sitting at a desk, staring at a screen, and counting the hours until the day ends.
My life is boring. Every day feels like a copy of the one before it, repeated so many times that the details blur together. Wake up. Go to work. Come home. Sleep. Repeat. Yet strangely enough, I do not hate it. I never did.
It is peaceful in its own way. I can eat three meals a day without worrying about tomorrow. I have a roof over my head that keeps the rain out. I am breathing, alive, and physically unharmed. As long as those four things are true, I always told myself that I was fine.
Still, if I am being honest with myself, it often feels like I am simply waiting for my death. Existing quietly. Letting time pass while I move through my days like a machine programmed to perform the same tasks over and over. No strong emotions. No real expectations.
It is miserable. I know that much.
But what can I really do about it? What right do I have to complain, and who would even listen if I did? There are people out there struggling far more than I am. Compared to them, my problems feel insignificant.
This is how I have lived my life up until now, and I assumed this was how I would continue living for whatever time I had left.
I do have regrets. Of course I do. Everyone does. But regrets do not change what already happened, and dwelling on them endlessly does nothing but waste time. All I can do is live in the present, learn from the past, and prepare for the future.
So if I'm just really waiting for my death, then so be it. I convinced myself that I was already content.
…
Or maybe not.
If I'm being completely honest, I'm tired. Exhausted, even. Fed up with this endless loop that my life has become.
I want excitement. I want unpredictability. I want days that feel different from one another. I want to go on adventures, meet new people, experience things I have never done before.
I want to try everything... I want to feel free.
I don't want to remain trapped in this suffocating cycle forever.
"Ugh… In my next life, I wish to get reborn in a fantasy world. That would be cool."
I muttered those words lazily while staring at my phone, mindlessly scrolling through reels without really paying attention to what was on the screen.
Then, suddenly—
[Wish Granted!]
A monotone voice echoed inside my head.
"...?"
"Am I going crazy now?"
I asked myself as I lightly tapped my temple with my phone, trying to snap myself back to reality.
[Transferring to Another World...]
The voice spoke again, just as emotionless as before.
"Transferring to Another World???"
I repeated the words aloud, but I didn't take them seriously. I figured I was just tired. Sleep deprivation did weird things to people, after all.
So I went back to scrolling through my phone.
But then—
B O O M—!!!
A FUCKING TRUCK SUDDENLY APPEARED RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!
"Wha-?!"
BAM-!
And it fucking hit me straight before I could even do anything!
HOW DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE?! MY APARTMENT IS ON THE SECOND FLOOR!
That was the last thing I remembered. I lost consciousness immediately, which was pretty fucking obvious.
*****
'Huh...?'
I don't know how much time had passed, but I regained my consciousness later on.
Everything was dark. Completely dark. No matter how much I tried to open my eyes, nothing changed. It was pitch black, like I was submerged in an endless void.
I panicked and tried to move my body... But I couldn't feel anything as well.
I could not feel my arms. My legs. Even my eyes felt nonexistent.
Everything was gone.
'Fuck!'
I cursed instinctively.
'DID I BECOME A FUCKING VEGETABLE?!!'
Then I exclaimed that inside my head, after all, I couldn't talk either.
The fear was overwhelming. Being trapped like this, unable to move, unable to see, unable to do anything but exist in the darkness. The thought alone was terrifying.
Why did this happen to me? I said I was content. I only wished for a little more excitement... Was that wrong? Was that greedy? Did I deserve this? Why?
THIS MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE!!!
'I couldn't even cry with the state that I'm in right now.'
I thought in frustration.
[Starting Your Reincarnation...]
Then I heard the monotone voice again, the one I heard before being hit by the truck.
'What the fuck is this shit? Why can I still hear this?'
I questioned it, but of course, there was no response.
[Randomizing Your Race...]
There it is again, but I just ignored it this time. I was really feeling defeated now, slowly accepting my fate. I have no time to argue with the voice in my head.
[Race Picking Done!]
[Race: Demon]
[Classification: Vampire]
[Exclusive Skill: Blood Is Power]
'Seriously, what the heck is this?'
I asked again, genuinely curious this time.
[Consume, Evolve, Rule.]
[Enjoy!]
The voice faded, and I let it do whatever it wanted. I had no energy left to react.
But then, at that moment—
SWAAAAAAHHHH~!!!
'...!'
The pitch black darkness suddenly turned into a blinding light.
I have no eyes so it didn't hurt me. I was just surprised.
'Is this normal to vegetable people?'
I asked myself.
FWIP—
"...?"
Then it became dark again, but not pitch black.
"Huh?"
I was able to talk again as well.
"..."
I could feel my arms. My legs. My body.
I was able to see again!
"I-I can see!"
I immediately scanned my surroundings, and from the looks of it...
"Where the fuck am I?"
It seems like I'm currently inside a cave.
After being hit by a truck on the second floor, I suddenly woke up in a cave.
Nothing about this situation made sense, I don't even know how I am still alive, but panicking would not help. I decided to assess my surroundings first.
Fortunately, my eyes adjusted to the darkness faster than I expected.
So, first...
"I should check my condition first."
I looked down at myself.
I look thin, my hands were small, and I have no fucking clothes!
"No wonder it feels cold."
I muttered as I looked at my condition a bit more.
My body looks smaller than what I remember, my member too... And also, my ribs are showing. It looks like I'm all skin and bones.
"What the hell happened to me?"
I asked, but my voice just echoed back to me.
I've been speaking to myself for a while now, hoping for someone to hear me so I can get some help. But I'm starting to think now that I'm all alone in this cave.
"Ugh, why am I in a cave? Who put me here? Aren't I supposed to be in a hospital? This is a sick joke."
I grumbled as I stood up. My legs are thin and weak as well, so I struggled just by getting up.
Growl~
Then, my stomach ached... I feel so hungry that I think I could eat a whole horse. Literally.
I looked around me, but I couldn't see anything to eat. I feel like passing out.
'At this rate, I'm just going to die of hunger.'
But then... I noticed something on the ground, just a few steps away from me.
It was a dead bat. Unmoving and lying on the ground.
'In survival stories, when they're trapped in a cave, they eat bats... But they said it's dangerous to eat it raw.'
I looked around me, I couldn't see far but I still tried. There was nothing that could help me start a fire, I literally have nothing on me as well, and I don't have any more strength to do anything.
"Fuck it."
So in desperation— I kneeled on the ground and looked at the dead bat. I grabbed it with my hands, and with a big sigh— I took a bite from it.
It tasted and smelled horrible. I frowned as I gnawed on the bat, the fur, the uncooked meat... Everything about it was shit.
Gulp-
But then, I drank a bit of its blood. And for some reason... It didn't taste that bad, and I also felt a bit energized.
Because of that, I focused on drinking the bat's blood more than eating it.
And not long, I drained it dry... Literally. I dropped the bat's corpse, and it looks like it's been dead for a while now.
The growling of my stomach stopped as well, and I recovered some of my strength.
"What's happening...?"
I was confused, and as if that wasn't enough—
"Fuuu..."
As soon as I let out a sigh, the echo returned!
Not just sound— shape.
The darkness in front of me shifted. Something invisible stretched outward and came back, pressing against my senses. The floor dipped a few steps ahead. The ceiling rose, uneven and jagged. Farther in, water dripped— slow, steady— marking distance I hadn't known existed.
"Huh?!"
My breath hitched.
I hadn't moved, yet the cave had.
"Haaaaah...?"
I swallowed and exhaled again, slower this time.
And the world answered.
Stone curved to my left. A narrow passage opened to the right, tight enough that my shoulders would scrape if I tried to pass. And somewhere deeper, the echoes stuttered— bending around a shape that hadn't been there a moment ago.
Something shifted.
The sound came back weird. Not stone. Not water. The space ahead moved, breaking the smooth return of my breath before settling again.
'It's something alive.'
I thought unconsciously.
My heart began to race.
I wasn't seeing.
I was listening.
A chill crept into my chest. The silence didn't fade— it twisted. Sound lingered where it shouldn't have, bending around unseen edges even after I held my breath.
"...This isn't normal"
I whispered.
And the cave whispered back again.
My head is currently in a mess, I don't know what's going on anymore. Weird stuff keeps happening one after another.
"Ah...!"
Then realization hit me... I remembered from one documentation reel that I watched before; what I'm experiencing right now— It's called echolocation.
'It's one of a bat's abilities.'
I thought to myself as I stared at the dried up corpse of the bat on the floor.